In the garden.\u00a0 In the Valley.\u00a0 Of the Jolly Green Giant.\u00a0 And other prepositional phrases.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not an especially big fan of the Planet of the Apes franchise.\u00a0 I\u2019ll grant the original with Chuck Heston was fairly good sci-fi with a solid Hitchcock ending.\u00a0 But nothing other than the ending really aged well.\u00a0 I saw the next two and part of the 4th<\/sup> when I was a kid.\u00a0 I thought they were kind of dumb then (but what did I know, I liked King Kong vs Godzilla<\/em>).\u00a0 I thought Tim Burton\u2019s take was silly.\u00a0 Timbo is a great one for visuals, but I\u2019m thinking that his few actual successes have been more accidental than anything.\u00a0 He has released fine work but he also allowed Johnny Depp to be clowned by Gene Wilder.\u00a0 A director with a better eye for story would have easily dominated the old Chocolate Factory movie with a combination of Depp and modern special effects.\u00a0 But not Burton.\u00a0 His Planet of the Apes<\/em> remake was the same as most of the times he\u2019s fallen flat: it looked good but there was nothing there.\u00a0 Though in fairness, I ought to mention the actors portraying the apes were quite good but their dedication was just another wasted advantage.<\/p>\n So really, in my mind there isn\u2019t a high bar for these movies.<\/p>\n The first thing to mention about the new entry is the special effects.\u00a0 They are amazing and understated.\u00a0 None of the apes are actual apes, they are a combination of animation and motion capture technology.\u00a0 WETA (SFX company used in Lord of the Rings<\/em> and Avatar<\/em>) has developed a way to use motion capture technology without a green screen.\u00a0 This is what allows the effects to be understated and fairly photo-realistic.\u00a0 So very early in the film you completely forget that the apes are animated because its simply not noticeable.<\/p>\n The next thing to mention is this is not a war between apes and people movie.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the previews would suggest, but that\u2019s not what the movie is about.\u00a0 If I were to describe it in terms of movies I\u2019ve seen; I\u2019d say it\u2019s equal parts Harry and the Hendersons, Outbreak<\/em>, and Escape from Alcatraz<\/em>.\u00a0 The ape characters are highly sympathetic and you\u2019ll find yourself rooting for them very quickly.<\/p>\n Caesar, the main character, is a chimpanzee whose mother took an experimental retro-virus designed to combat the effects of Alzheimer\u2019s.\u00a0 He inherited the virus from her and an unforeseen side effect is the virus boosts brain cell creation.\u00a0 So Caesar has mental capacity that can potentially surpass a human.\u00a0 James Franco (only slightly less ludicrously cast as a scientist than Elisabeth Shue in The Saint<\/em>) raises Caesar in his home and observes his progress safely until there is a misunderstanding with a neighbor and Caesar assaults said neighbor.\u00a0 This causes Caesar to be sent to an ape sanctuary pending a legal decision.<\/p>\n This is the first time Caesar has been exposed to normal apes and the experience is traumatic.\u00a0 And very creatively stimulating.\u00a0 He begins to ask himself some tough questions about the world and comes up with some very interesting solutions.<\/p>\n This is probably the best summer movie so far.\u00a0 I liked it better than anything Marvel put out and I\u2019m 95% sure it\u2019s better than Cowboys and Aliens<\/em>.\u00a0 Still haven\u2019t seen that one.\u00a0 Still liking that decision.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t bother seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes<\/em> in 3-D.<\/p>\n 3-D is retarded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the garden.\u00a0 In the Valley.\u00a0 Of the Jolly Green Giant.\u00a0 And other prepositional phrases. I\u2019m not an especially big fan of the Planet of the Apes franchise.\u00a0 I\u2019ll grant the original with Chuck Heston was fairly good sci-fi with … Continue reading