Year: 2011
Starring: James Franco, John Lithgow, Frieda Pinto
Directed By: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 105 Minutes
When I first saw the preview for this movie, I thought, what a brilliant idea for a movie. Take a classic movie and create a prequel to explain how apes took over the planet. I thought it was brilliant, and really loved what they did with the teasers and trailers. Each time I saw the preview, I really wanted to see this movie more and more. I really hyped myself up for this movie, and by the time it came out, I was really worried that it was just going to be terrible. WOW, I was pleasantly surprised when I see James Franco continue his great acting, and the story was incredible. Following a day in the life of a genius ape just made this movie so much better.
The movie begins with the capture of some chimpanzees in Africa. I will warn all you, if you are not a fan of seeing animals being tested on or injured or even killed, just be aware that it happens in this movie, BUT there are all digital animals so its not real. The same company who did the digital imaging for Avatar did the effects for this movie, so the apes look very, very realistic. From there it follows James Franco, and scientist creating a cure for brain disorders. He is ultimately trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's since his father, John Lithgow, suffers from it. When he finds a successful strain in a subject chimp, he plans to present it to the board, when the chimp goes wild, and is killed. They discover it was protecting a baby chimp, who becomes the main focus of the movie.
When James Franco decides to keep the infant chimp instead of put it down, he discovers it is smarter than any other chimp. It seems the strain they used in the mother, was passed to the baby in the womb, but changed him differently. Throughout the movie you are following Caesar and James Franco, alternating between Caesar's new discovers, and downfalls, and James Franco continued push to cure brain diseases. Caesar goes to protect John Lithgow when a neighbor is trying to fight him, and thus causes animal control to put him in an ape habitat. This is where you follow Caesar and the "rise."
I truly thought this movie was great. Such a simple idea, such a great story, and such a good ending. I will give this movie 4.5 our of 5 ALZ 113's. Call me biased, but I thought this movie was really well done. There were some corny parts, but a lot of parts in which make you think about how this could happen and that it is the cause of the famous 1968 movie Planet of the Apes. I highly recommend, and have an open mind! Remember, it is a movie, not a real scientific story.
TMBro
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