The Planet of the Apes Films

[1upmushroom]

Now this is a great example of science fiction gone right and that you don't need great special effects to make a story. The plot of these films is basically role reversal. One seemingly alternate planet, George Taylor finds that humans are savages and Apes are the supreme race. With great twists and lots of satire, Planet of the Apes is a nice treat for sci-fi fans.

I also advise you to read the book written by the same man who wrote the Bridge over the River Kwai. While it's a bit simplistic, the novel also provides good satire, this time however with a more modern ape society (like with cars, tvs, etc) and a twist that not only makes sense but is satisfactory and even rivals the 1968 classic. Read it.

Now let's talk about the remake by Tim Burton who actually says it's a "re-imagining". This movie is a perfect example that special effects don't make a movie, with lame actors for the humans, a poor script, a lack of any satire, and a twist that while satisfactory makes no real sense and is only there because the others had a twist. Though I will admit I have the DVd of this movie because the ape effects are pretty good.

[Redstar]

The original Planet of the Apes film is an undeniable science fiction classic. It somehow straddles the division between an intelligent, thought-provoking story and an adventure that can take in anyone. Heston's role and performance are perhaps two of the reasons it was so successful, though the stunning makeup effects look real even today.

The sequels are an interesting phenomenon since each one was intended to definitively end the series. Even nuclear holocaust wasn't enough to stop them from producing an additional three movies following the second.

The third film introduced time travel (the original film only featured a relativistic time warp) in a way that was able to examine how a world raised by apes came to be. While that backstory (cats and dogs dying out, "forcing" humans to breed chimps for pets then later enslaving them) is absurd, one cannot ignore that Conquest of the Planet of the Apes makes for a strong statement on race relations of the time, even ignoring the metaphor of "apes equals Africans."

Burton's re-imagining of the original is a favorite film of mine because of how well it truly reworked the themes of the series while grounding it with modern film effects. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated that the chimps, gorillas and orangutans now had roles and personalities more fitting to their real-world counterparts. Chimps are very violent and warlike creatures while gorillas are incredibly docile.

I also enjoyed the art direction quite a bit. The clothing and (especially) armor was just really cool.

Finally, Heston's cameo appearance as a former chimp general with vehement anti-gun beliefs is just gold.

I recently watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes for the first time and felt it to be the best film of the entire franchise as well as this past year. It is more a remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes than the original, which I feel makes it work very well.

Everything about the film was just perfect; from the story to the characters to the overriding themes, it just got it right. The only thing I have to truthfully criticize is the mo-cap performances for the apes; while certainly an improvement from LoTR's Gollum and other mo-cap characters, the apes are still often incredibly fake-looking. This is most evident in the beginning, but eventually you start to overlook it. It's not so easy with the orangutans, whose long hair just looks very CGI compared to the short-haired chimps.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how they continue the franchise. There's lots of directions they can go in, though the implications of the end-credits suggest only the world shown in the original film can appear. (Also, I have to point out that Super Mario Bros. editor Mark Goldblatt also edited this movie!)

[Wesr]

I'm a huge fan of the originals, some more than others of course, and I don't even acknowledge that Tim Burton mess. I'm waiting for the newest movie to hit the 5.00 bin and grab it. i plan on getting the box set on amazon that comes with the documentary "Behind the planet of the apes" as it's a good one.