Rise of the Planet of The Apes (2011)

Rise of the Planet of The Apes (PG-13) - Review

"O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?"

The Planet of the Apes franchise often suffered from not a lack of ideas, but an inability to carry them with confidence.  Now the original (and best) film gets a prequel reboot, and whether or not its all just monkey-business really depends on whether you like your Apes, CGI or guys in masks.  Considering this is in the same universe, ROTPOTA can also be considered a remake of the 4th film in the francise, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, but it takes a radically different path (as most modern remakes unwisely do).

A scientist named Will Rodman (James Franco) looking for a cure for his father's Alzheimer's begins experimenting with a new vaccine/virus on chimpanzees.  After an incident, the experiment is cancelled and Will brings his work home with him (along with a mutated baby chimp named Caesar.  As he ages Caesar is observed to have high, human like intelligence and begins to chafe in his petlike role.  When the drug is used on his father (John Lithgow), at first his dementia recedes but the cure doesn't take hold, and while in a dementia state has a confrontation with an overbearing neighbor. Caesar comes to his rescue, but with a violent outcome.  Caesar is remanded to the custody of a SF animal shelter, where he discovers his true calling by interacting and leading the other simians out of perceived slavery towards revolt, most of them having been injected by Casesar with the wonder monkey drug.

There is a barely used subplot about the virus being deadly to humans (it happens and then goes away), and a tacked on romance with a Zoo monkey keeper for Franco to emote about.  The abundance of CGI and motioncapture animation wears the movie thin, espeically with the uncanny valley faces of the chimps.  Almost but not quite fits in with the rest of the series (though if you only consider the 1st movie canon then its a pretty good fit), in the end its just a bunch of computer generated malarky without any real point.  Conquest at least let you root for the monkeys since they were up against some Nazi gestapos types and were actually smart apes in bondage.  Here all the carnage and wreckage on the Goldengate is really the end to a Father/Son relationship, and "I'm not just a monkey anymore, DAD!!!" 

6 Damn Dirty Apes out of 10 (GOOD)