Rise of the Planet of the Apes [DVD]

Just been to the cinema to watch the final one in the trilogy and wanted to catch up on the story! There is something well done about this film, it somehow pulls off a great reboot of the franchise and mixes in a believable contemporary scenario of creating an intelligence enhancing drug designed to combat Alzheimer's and touches on animal welfare issues underneath. It manages to deal with emotions of prejudice, abandonment and isolation well, Caesar emerges from slave to servant to lord, the most powerful scene is him refusing to leave his cell and abandon his people - almost biblical! It is slightly cheesy in parts but pushes all the right buttons for a good watch. Technically it was groundbreaking with the use of motion tracking.

A new attempt at rebooting/reimagining/remaking/calling it what you will the Planet of the Apes franchise.So forget the originals and the 2001 version - as well you might in the case of the latter - because this is a whole new take on things, having no tie in with those films whatsoever.James Franco plays Will Rodman, a scientist trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Not least so he can help his afflicted father [John Lithgow]. When work on chimps with a new drug yields unexpected results he is left with a baby chimp to care for. Who is eventually named Caesar. Caesar is very smart. A bond between humans and apes forms.But when Caesar gets to see the worst humanity can offer, and when the drug trials lead to more unexpected developments, the future of two species might be changed forever.Caesar is brought to life via actor Andy Serkis in a motion capture suit and cgi, a la Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. The end result is just as good. He is a character you can't help but sympathise with and root for. It's very easy to forget at times that he's not a real creature.Human wise Will Rodman has a decent amount of depth to him and James Franco acts the character well. Frieda Pinto takes the somewhat thankless role of his life interest and does catch the attention regardless of her character not being quite as deep as she could. And John Lithgow does tug at the heartstrings when portraying a man who simply can't remember any more.The rest are cold hearted and ruthless or ignorant as required, but all are played well.The film moves at a decent pace throughout. This is a 12 certificate film, thanks to some moments of violence and angry apes that might not be suitable for younger viewers. It all builds to a very satisfying last act which begins with a great punch the air moment. And has a few more during what follows.Both a decent action movie when that kicks in, and a solid drama about the bond between two indiviuals, this is excellent movie making and an excellent way to start a franchise. Not least because although it's relatively self contained it does at the same time set a few things up to follow. The first of them in a pretty clever way. The second you will find out more about at the start of the end credits, so keep watching those.There are two short scenes which are done with subtitles. There's no way to switch those off. But they are necessary. You'll see why.There is also one great homage to the original.Forget the 2001 version. This is an attempt at franchise rebooting that wholeheartedly succeeds. Which is why the sequel will be along shortly. And why I look forward to it.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English Spanish German Italian.Subtitles: English Spanish Danish Finnish German Swedish Italian Norwegian.There are no extras at all.It begins with one trailer that you can skip via the next button on the remote.And one that you can't get past like that, unless you use fast forward.

I'm disappointed. The film itself was a decent drama but lacking in action which I expected. I much preffered the Tim Burton all action one, from what I remember as a kid. I didn't read to much into this but was expecting more of same all out war of apes vs humans, ape civiliazion, scifi, planet of apes etc..(guess the clue was in the title 'rise') Still I expected rise of their civilization then wars or something with humans (ye I read little into this movie before my purhcase lol my bad). But no this a story about a captive monkey eventually escaping back to the wild. Its like Dark Knight most people loved it but it was to much story and not enough action for my liking...I do like my dramas don't get me wrong but from this movie and batman I want lots of epic action scenes...I regret buying this but there you go.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a reboot which actually works.It is an origins story set in present day Ssn Francisco and tells the story of Caesar the chimpanzee.Andy Serkis is brilliant as Caesar and James Franco and John Lithgow are great as Will and Charles Rodman.The scenes where are apes are gathering and trying to get to freedom are fantastic.A brilliant film and one I cant praise enough.

We'll thought out film with some of the normal Hollywood script directions but not many, so forgiven. One of the best re boots currently available it covers, essentially, racism in the USA.This film follows the fairy-tale journey so best to sit back and switch off the brain otherwise you will guess every twist and turn.I give five stars for the adventure and effects probably three for story line and five again for the subject matter. Acting over the top at times, exaggerated characters as stereotypical Hollywood likes to portray everyone.Enjoyable film.

This movie is great. I like it and have watched it a couple of times. The wife, to which this was gifted, loves it and has watched it loads of times. Often referred to as 'the monkey film', it has probably been watched more times than any other in our collection.If you are looking for some film about talking monkeys and imprisoned humans then this is not the film you are looking for. This sets the story of how that film came to be. It is a sci-fi film that is believable and has some great characters. A brilliant cast, both seen and unseen (notably Andy Serkis who played Gollum in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Caesar in this), brings this film together.This movie, along with the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, is a worthy addition to any collection and having it on Blu-ray just makes it that little bit better.