Rise of the Planet of the Apes

So, I had no inclinations to see this movie at all when it came out. Only after hearing for the millionth time about how Andy Serkis deserved an Oscar nod and other general praise for the movie, I decided to bite the bullet and watch it. Perhaps I'm still holding a grudge from the Mark Wahlberg version, which was one of the worst movies in history, but I'm not a fan of this franchise in particular. I don't believe I have seen any of the other versions. In any event, it looks like this movie did extremely well as it not only generated serious Oscar buzz, it's brought in almost $481 million worldwide with a budget of only $93 million.

The plot is what I assume a prequel to the franchise, or at least the last movie (please forgive my ignorance on the ape franchise). It follows James Franco as he manipulates genetic codes in order to save his father, played by John Lithgow, from Alzheimers. The apes that he tests on become highly intelligent which ultimately leads to their demise at the lab he works for, save one tiny little baby with a super I.Q. Franco's character takes him home and raises him. The aptly named Caesar, finds himself imprisoned in a brutal ape sanctuary and ultimately leads a revolt against those damn dirty humans.

I will say that the script was fresh and original. Apparently there were also tons of little hat-tips to the other movies, but in a smart and realistic way. The characters were unfortunately riddled with cliches and stereotypes, except for maybe Caesar, but again that's only to be expected in an action movie. The dialogue was predictable and simple.

I was quite disappointed with the CGI. Don't get me wrong, the faces were beautifully done and far superior to most other movies with CGI creatures. That being said, the way their bodies moved and the lighting and interlacing with the film was just really off. I'm not anything close to being a special effects guru, but it seems as though all of the time was spent on the faces of the apes instead of making them look like they were actually there. The lighting didn't even match the backgrounds in some shots. And I don't want to even mention the body-dragging sequence after Malfoy's character was knocked out. Although, I do have to hand it to them since almost every single frame contained a CGI character in it. I'm surprised it only cost $93 million. As far as the other cinematic elements, obviously the majority of the budget was in the special effects department as there was run-of-the-mill camera work, score, etc.

James Franco is such a Renaissance Man and he did fine in this role. Malfoy, a.k.a. Tom Felton, did pretty well, plus it was fun watching him without his accent. I will admit that Andy Serkis did an amazing job with his motion capture acting. He conveyed so much through his face it was unreal.

In the end, I was disappointed. Most likely this is due to the supersized ultra overrated non-stop hyping of the movie going on. Other than the exquisitely done ape faces, the CGI was way below par. The plot was interesting enough to keep me from hating the movie but still falls in the mediocre realm. "Ape alone, weak. Apes together, strong."