Rise of the Planet of the Apes

First, James Franco destroyed the Oscars. Now, he is destroying the planet. Way to go, genius.

Franco stars as Will Rodman - a scientist in San Francisco desperately trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's, since his father (John Lithgow) is suffering from the disease. However, the experiments conducted on chimpanzees go horribly wrong, and the company orders them all put down.

Not willing to give up on finding a cure, and unable to let the company destroy a baby chimpanzee he names Caesar, Will brings the baby home, starts to raise him, and discovers the drug he created has made little Caesar smarter than any animal or human of his age.

When Caesar starts to act out and gets put in a facility with other apes, we find out just how much smarter he is than everything and everyone else.

Watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes brought me back to that amazing moment in Jurrasic Park when the dinosaurs make their first appearance and I (like just about everyone else in the world) was absolutely blown away by how real they looked. The apes in this movie instill that same amazement and awe.

While Rise of the Planet of the Apes is not a movie full of great dialogue or acting, director Rupert Wyatt and the creative team (especially the CGI artists and actors creating the movements for the characters) show fantastic storytelling skills. Wyatt and the writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver make Rise of the Planet of the Apes into a mesmerizing prison drama as we see the apes abused, angered, trapped and driven to a desire for freedom from the oppressors (and maybe a little bit of revenge as well). Much of it is done without dialogue, which leaves the audience to watch the apes interacting with sign language (like Koko!) and rudimentary gestures that are so clear a 2-year old could understand the meaning.

While Franco and Lithgow are joined by Freida Pinto in the cast of human characters, the stellar acting comes from the team of humans who create the movements of the various apes (and, to be honest, they get the best material). Andy Serkis, best known as Gollum in Lord of the Rings, makes Caesar into a child full of wonder and energy. Then, as the world becomes a colder, meaner place for him, turns the chimp into a compelling, charismatic leader who is angry at the abuse he faces.

Fans of the original Planet of the Apes will be cheering the obvious and subtle allusions to the original, while the rest of the audience is blown away by some of the best special effects of the last 20 years.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is rated PG-13 for violence, terror, some sexuality and brief strong language.