Working to develop a possible cure for Alzheimer’s, Dr. Will Rodman (James Franco) inadvertently creates a serum that makes monkeys smart...and rebellious.

CRITIQUE

That synopsis is a little silly (intentionally so), but so is this movie. But like any good B-level sci-fi flick, it’s also entertaining and fun. Director Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes eschews the high-minded social commentary of the original Planet of the Apes and sidesteps the mixture of heavy-handed and half-baked social commentary of the sequels (two of which, Escape from the Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planets of the Apes, kinda-sorta inform this movie’s plot), instead setting its sights on giving a modern audience a good time. It’s not completely successful, but it’s a hell of a lot better than I expected.

I’m a huge fan of the original Planet of the Apes, but I don’t really care for any of the sequels (not even Escape, which is really the only one worth mentioning) or the two television series that followed (the animated show benefited from the input of Doug Wildey, but in the end it was nothing more than a stew of recycled elements). And I hate the Tim Burton remake/reimagining with a passion. Burton’s knowledge of how to make a Planet of the Apes flick is so infinitesimal it makes his knowledge of how to make a Batman flick look like Christopher Nolan’s knowledge of how to make a Batman flick. So I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when this reboot/remake/whatever was announced (back when it was titled Caesar and Scott Frank was reportedly writing the script [which ended up being credited to Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver]).

As it turns out, this is the only follow-up (I know that’s not the proper term, strictly speaking, but whatever) worthy of standing alongside the original. I’m not saying it’s as good as the original (it’s not; doesn’t come close, really), but it’s the only subsequent offering that doesn’t feel like a cheap cash-in or half-assed do-over. If you’re going to attempt to kick-start this franchise for both an audience that fondly remembers the original and an audience that has no knowledge of or interest in the original, this isn’t a bad way to do it.

The movie is a combination of sci-fi clichés and big action, with the latter working far better than the former. Plots involving cures that end up being worse than the disease are one of the hoariest of hoary sci-fi scenarios. And it doesn’t help that the particulars of this particular plot are more than a little reminiscent of Deep Blue Sea (yes, Deep Blue Sea); but the story has to start somewhere, and I suppose this is as good a place as any (and the final payoff’s a good hook for the promised sequel). And anyway, it’s where this particular part of the story ends up that’s the big draw here, and where it ends up is fantastic. The final half hour of this movie is killer, as good a sustained piece of filmmaking as you’re likely to see this year. (This is only Wyatt’s second feature, but he’s already wise enough to surround himself with able collaborators. Hiring Conrad Buff and Mark Goldblatt to edit the movie was a wise move; they’re two of the best in the business and they keep this thing moving.)

This movie’s biggest shortcoming is its human half of the story. I didn’t give a damn about Franco’s character, his ailing father (John Lithgow), his superfluous love interest (Freida Pinto), his duplicitous boss (David Oyelowo), or his tool of a neighbor (David Hewlett). I wasn’t surprised by this, though, as an excess of human characters no one gives a damn about is another hallmark of B-level sci-fi. No, this is the sort of tale where you’re more likely to care about whatever non-human creature plays a major role, and the one you’ll find here is a marvel of invention. Caesar, the chimpanzee who kicks off the next stage in simian evolution, is arguably the most fully realized CG character the process has so far given us. Your eyes will keep telling you he’s nothing but a construct, the result of a bunch of ones and zeros chained together, but you won’t listen.

See, while Caesar doesn’t look exactly like a living, breathing chimpanzee (when it comes to completely nailing the look of simian creatures, the movie’s best CG creations are an orangutan and a gorilla), he absolutely feels like one. The man behind Caesar is--surprise, surprise--Andy Serkis, and his work here makes his work on Lord of the Rings and King Kong look like baby poop. That’s not a knock at his previous work, which I happen to think was (and still is) stellar. It’s just that what he does here is so unbelievably good. It’s not just some motion-capture dots that have been turned into a monkey--it’s a staggeringly good performance (it’s far and away the best performance in the movie) that has been translated from the “real” world into the digital realm.

Had Caesar not worked, the movie would have been a complete failure. And I don’t mean that in same way that the robots in Transformers worked. That was simple spectacle, so all you needed was the illusion that one big piece of metal was slamming into another big piece of metal. Here you have to believe that the character exists, and you have to want to follow him and become invested in him. You have to buy that a bloody monkey is following in the footsteps of Spartacus, and you do. Regardless of the quality of the effects, it wouldn’t mean a damn thing if there wasn’t an emotional investment. Thanks to Serkis, and thanks to the effects artists who ensured that every nuance of his “live” performance came through in the translation, there is. (And don’t worry if you’re surprised by how large that investment is; it’s not an uncommon occurrence.)

You don’t need to know anything about the original Planet of the Apes in order to enjoy or follow this story, but there are some nice shout-outs. The names of half the characters here are nods to people involved in the making of the original. The ill-fated space mission that sent Charlton Heston and his fellow explorers to their destiny is established here. You’ll learn how the apes developed their fondness for water hoses, as well as why they favor horses for transportations. A lot of this is fun, but the movie stumbles when it borrows the original’s most famous line of dialogue. The line that follows it here, however, is a hell of nice surprise, which goes a long way toward making up for it. In a way, that describes the movie as a whole.

THE VIDEO

The 2.35:1/1080p transfer--encoded with AVC onto a 50GB disc--comes awfully close to achieving perfection. Wyatt and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (another able collaborator) give the contrast a slight boost, which results in some rich, truly vivid colors. It doesn’t hurt the blacks in any way, though, as they remain deep throughout. Depth is impressive, and detail is even more impressive. The only problem, and it’s arguably a negligible one, is some aliasing; you’ll find it in clothing and in some hard-edged architecture (the movie’s full of bridges, winding staircases, and catwalks). I’m calling it because it’s my duty to, but I doubt it’s likely to bother most people, and it certainly doesn’t come anywhere close to compromising what is a fantastic presentation.

THE AUDIO

I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this disc’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. It’s a movie about rebellious monkeys, so you go in expecting to hear monkeys shuffling about and shrieking all throughout the soundstage, and the movie doesn’t disappoint. Each species of ape has its own distinct sound, and these are delineated perfectly, even in the where the apes are massing. Whether there’s action going down or it’s just a couple people talking, the track creates a good sonic environment, atmospheric and immersive. Dialogue always sounds natural; the music sounds excellent. Bass action is often relentless.

French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 dubs are also included, as is an English Descriptive Audio 5.1 track; English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The extras kick off with two commentaries, one by director Rupert Wyatt, the other by writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Each is quite spotty, so it would have made more sense to splice them together.

All of the following are presented in high-def:

Eleven deleted scenes (12 minutes), some of which are actually short bits trimmed from scenes that did make the final cut, contain some mildly interesting moments, but on the whole they’re nothing special.

Mythology of the Apes (7 minutes) explores how this movie fits into the overall Apes mythos.

The Genius of Andy Serkis (8 minutes) offers a look at Serkis’s motion capture work and gives his coworkers a chance to praise his efforts.

A New Generation of Apes (10 minutes) delves into the effects used to bring the movie’s simian characters to life.

A scene breakdown (2 minutes) provides a look at the various stages that went into creating one scene; you’ll get a look at the original animatic, motion capture footage of Serkis’s performance, and the finished product.

Character Concept Art Gallery is an interactive feature that provides a look at the artwork created during the development of the primary simian characters.

Breaking Motion Capture Boundaries (9 minutes) covers the extensive mo-cap work that went into creating the movie’s finale. (By the way, the finale makes me wonder if someone allowed the monkeys to watch For Your Eyes Only. One of the most satisfying moments here echoes my favorite moment from that movie.)

Composing the Score with Patrick Doyle (8 minutes) is half chat with the composer, half glimpse at a recording session.

The Great Apes (23 minutes) is a trio of factual featurettes focusing on chimps, gorillas, and orangutans. 

Three theatrical trailers are also included.

A second disc houses DVD and digital copies.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Is it a great movie? No. But it is a good one, so good that I’m almost willing to forgive Fox for that Tim Burton debacle they unleashed on the world a decade ago. Almost.