The Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of those movies that I wanted to see in theaters, but never got around to seeing until just recently. As has been one of the recent trends in Hollywood the origin story is told here for how the apes come to be in control. That is what I thought the story was going in, but really this only ends up being a very small part of the story. The real aspects of this movie ends up being about the relationship forged between Will and Caesar the chimp he secretly saves only to find out that the Alzheimer's drug he had been working on, had been passed down to Caesar from his mom, not only making him super intelligent, but he shows an ability to reason and learn. While Rise of the Planet of the Apes was for the most part an enjoyable movie throughout,but in the end if I had to sum it up in one word it would be that it was underwhelming.
The star of the movie is Caesar our CGI chimp whose movements were made by Andy Serkis. Serkis is brilliant with the movements, every movement is precisely what we would expect from the way a chimp to move to even how they would act. Everything about Caesar is perfectly put on screen because even though he is CGI, it is so seamless that we actually believe Caesar to be an actual chimp on screen with everyone else. Caesar gives the performance in such a great way that the audience ends up feeling the emotion that Caesar is going through with everything that goes on. James Franco in the role of Will Rodman does what we need from him. His relationship with Caesar is really what moves this movie and drives it. Franco does such a great job at playing such a driven scientist who truly wants to cure Alzheimer's not only for the world, but to save his father from the disease. Franco brings the same amount of emotion that we also see from Caesar, which only endears us to both characters more. The supporting cast do a great job as well, particularly Lithgow in the role of Will's father. He plays the confused moments of the disease so well that it is truly believable. He helps forge that emotional connection even stronger that the audience feels toward Caesar.
The story for Rise of the Planet of the Apes is about 95% toward being perfect. The buildup made made for this story built so well and so strong that for me it was precisely what I expect in a movie. Everything built toward not only a strong climax, but a fulfilling conclusion. This building truly made for great pacing and movement. I felt this pacing worked so well because they did not have moments that were only in the movie for filler, but each moment and scene served an ultimate purpose. When the story finally got to where the build up went, it was at that point where the story fell short. Where the pacing had been perfect, it felt very rushed at the climax. After investing the time in the story as it is moving along I want the conclusion not to be rushed. While I do not want to go into it and to spoil anything for those who may have not seen it yet, but one of the big plot points, the conclusion of this plot point felt very much like a cop out way to tie up this part of the story.
The special effects used in Rise of the Planet of the Apes were not only a necessary component, but a huge key to this movies success. The biggest part of the special effects were the CGI chimps and gorillas. With a huge part of the cast being the different apes it was key that they looked like actual apes and not just computer made. They were able to be successful and the realism of the apes in turn helped make some of the human characters the villains necessary for the audience to be more fully behind the apes and care even more about Caesar. The only thing I would have liked would have been more development of other apes so we could care even more for the exploitation and hardships the apes have gone through. Even though I would have liked more development with the CGI apes, the CGI was simply perfect and worked so well to supplement most of the story.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes truly had a lot of potential to be great, but because of the underwhelming conclusion it really hurt the film. Serkis's work he did worked well and it is truly quite a sign to his hard work when his face is never shown onscreen because of the CGI. Rise of the Planet of the Apes had some very strong CGI and even though it had its weaknesses I am giving Rise of the Planet of the Apes three buckets of popcorn out of five. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a movie that ended up being worth the rental price.
-The Movie Man
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