Ridiculously long title aside, this movie is a pretty good watch. Anyone going in expecting any link to Tim Burton’s recent remake can rest assured that this reboot totally ignores any of the mistakes of that 2001 misfire.

Rise is basically a reworking of the fourth movie in the orignal Planet of the Apes series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, showing the beginning of the primate revolution that harkens Man’s downfall, and surprsingly I found myself rooting for the simians more than their human compatriots.

It’s a testament to how far the tech in Cinema has come, that we invest so much into the apes considering that they aren’t even really there. The opening sequences with Caesar as a baby drew awww’s from the females in the audience and you really felt for the little chimp as he progressed through his life dealing with the alienation he feels belonging in neither the human world nor the world of the primates.

In fact, the primates are so good in this movie, that it sometimes feels a shame that we have to have the scenes involving humans at all. Most of the supporting human characters (Apart from Franco, Lithgow and Pinto) are dislikable jerks and seem to be there only to torment Caesar and his fellow apes.

You are put through some emotional highs and lows as we follow Caesar, and the musical score by Patrick Doyle perfectly fits in, accentuating the events unfolding before us on the screen. Take for example the first time Caesar finds himself in the redwoods. The music mirrors the emotions of the little chimp, starting off softly as he tentatively explores his new surroundings, then soaring and sweeping as he looses himself with joy and abandon in the forest.

I give the movie an 8 out of 10, and I’m really hoping that it does well in the box office so we can enjoy the launch of another franchise.

P.S This movie is full of in-jokes referencing the 1968 original (see if you cant find all of them), and make sure you stay during the credits to watch the coda that setups the eventual sequel 🙂