An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering (in the quest to make the cure for Alzheimer's) lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the consequences of genetic engineering in what may be the first of a new PLANET OF THE APES series.

ANALYSIS:

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a clever re-imagining that re-introduced THE PLANET OF THE APES universe.  They have a couple of nods to the first APES film that starred Charlton Heston including one of the most quoted lines from that film.   This film chronicles the development of Caesar and the start of the fall of the human race.  The reference to the Icarus mission to Mars sets it up for a possible sequel.    The ALZ-112 drug leads to smarter apes, but the ALZ-113 is a deadly virus to humans and making still smarter apes.   You can fill in the gaps where the story is going.  the weak link of the story is the character arc of James Franco's scientist character, Will Rodman.   It continues to make me think either Franco isn't a really good actor or he keeps picking roles that aren't well developed (or character directed).  You know why he wanted to develop the drug (to save his Father from Alzheimer's), but his story takes back seat to Caesar's story which is the most developed of the film's story.   The story raises questions about medical ethics and whether we should alter the course of evolution (and what will be the price).  The effects work of the Apes is almost flawless and the story is good at showing Ape mayhem (which is over too soon)

 If they make a sequel which I imagine will be a remake and re-imagining of the first THE PLANET OF THE APES with the Icarus crew returning, I will definitely be in line to see that one.   I would like to see a film bridging the gap between this film and that remake, but the post-credits sequence renders that story moot if you stay around for a minute into the credits.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Two audio commentaries- the first with Director Rupert Wyatt and the second with Writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver

11 deleted scenes in various stages of finish where some show a very crude animated version of Caesar while other scenes show Andy Serkis in his motion capture suit.   The scenes add nothing new to the film and just would slow down the pacing of the film.

MYTHOLOGY OF THE APES looks at how the filmmakers incorporated elements and wink-wink moments from the other Apes films.

THE GENIUS OF ANDY SERKIS- look at how Andy Serkis uses motion capture as a way to capture his performance for the animators.

A NEW GENERATION OF APES- using motion capture performance and animation to create the movie's apes.

COMPOSSING THE SCORE WITH PATRICK DOYLE- behind-the-scenes of recording the score

BREAKING MOTION CAPTURE BOUNDARIES- using extensive motion capture and animation to create the climax at the Golden Gate Bridge

SCENE BREAKDOWN- it gives you the ability to switch back and forth between three levels of completion for various scenes from motion capture to early animation to the final scene

THE GREAT APES-   interviews with primate experts, photos and video of apes in captivity gives various facts about chimps, gorillas, and orangutans.

Also on the Blu-ray disc are the three theatrical trailers and a Character Concept Art gallery.

digital copy of the movie accessible when you put in the DVD in a computer DVD/ Blu-ray drive and connect to the internet to download it.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   RISE OF THE PLANET IF THE APES brings new life into THE PLANET OF THE APES series with Andy Serkis bring real emotion and life to a very smart ape who will be the downfall of the humans.    Get the Blu-ray if you want all the extras or get the Walmart release if you at least want some of the extras on DVD (if you haven't gotten into Blu-ray).

this review is (c)12-28-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com