Movie Review -- Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Quote: Nareed

Anyway, sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't the first prequel. That "honor" goes to Escape From the Planet of the Apes way back in 1971.

I didn't know about that one. I hate to dis movies I've never seen, but I heard all the Ape sequels were mediocre, at best. However, I don't think that should count as a prequel because they traveled to the past from the future. So it is like the past happening in the future. Does that make sense?

Quote: Wizard

I didn't know about that one. I hate to dis movies I've never seen, but I heard all the Ape sequels were mediocre, at best.

I find the whole idea mediocre at best. I mean, in the original movie we're supposed to think the astronauts reached a distant, new planet and find it controlled by apes. So we're supposed to be very surprised at the end when Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty and realizes he's on Earth in the distant future. But the whole thing fails when there are humans all over the place.

Frankly I liked a minor parody on the Simpsons a lot better. It was a musical play on the movie, starring Troy McLure :)

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However, I don't think should count as a prequel because they traveled to the past from the future. So it is like the past happening in the future. Does that make sense?

See what I said about time travel and bleeding noses...

Seriously, every time travel idea I've ever had ultimately crashes in a paradox or inconsistency, as does every time travel story I've ever seen, heard, watched or read. Such things make plot holes large enough to throw an aircraft carrier through.

Quote: Wizard

I didn't know about that one. I hate to dis movies I've never seen, but I heard all the Ape sequels were mediocre, at best. However, I don't think that should count as a prequel because they traveled to the past from the future. So it is like the past happening in the future. Does that make sense?

The new movie pretty much ignores the mediocre Ape movies #3, #4, and#5 along with the mediocre television series. Although it covers some of the same time period it is not a remake. A big change from the 1970's is that the Apes do not conquer mankind as much as inherit the world.

Quote: Wizard

I don't think will be a problem with Rise. To be honest, I don't know how they got the apes to looks so believable, but it had to be at least partially with computer special effects. They do list actors names for the major ape characters.

The apes are almost entirely CGI. I don't think they used any rubber suits at all. However, the motion is still based on real people like Andy Serkis who are mimicking apes. They have those special suits with sensors so that they can graft the CGI ape onto real human movement. Andy Serkis did Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. I think he is qualified for an acting nomination in awards shows. Although his dialogue is not extensive, it is genuine acting. It takes a bit of a genius to move like that.

I agree with the Wizard's review. This movie was probably the best of the summer movies and was better than I expected. I honestly thought that everything about the movie was in the promos. While the promos do reveal the core plot, they fail to reveal the solid emotion in the movie.

There was a small documentary released at the same time about a chimpanzee in the 1970's that was raised as a human and who developed a significant use of sign language. Sadly, he was abandoned by the people who raised him and spent his last decades in a zoo living with other chimpanzees. The documentary is supposed to be a real tearjerker.

Quote: Nareed

Seriously, every time travel idea I've ever had ultimately crashes in a paradox or inconsistency, as does every time travel story I've ever seen, heard, watched or read. Such things make plot holes large enough to throw an aircraft carrier through.

I agree, time travel gets abused as a deus ex machina device far too often. The only thing worse is using the "it was just a dream" device at the end. That's more likely to be used in TV, but it never fails to send me to the moon.

As far as the various Planet of the Apes inconsistencies, that the Apes and Heston spoke the same language was awful. You might excuse the filmmakers for asking us to generally give license for this, as often happens with movies, but in PoA they go to great lengths to make it clear this isnt just a convenient bypassing of how language problems would have to be handled, but that they are actually all speaking and understanding the same language!

Maybe the new movie is partly to explain this, eh?

Sorry for off topic, but...

MrV, is that YouTube link a link to "Senna"? I'm currently at work and can't access it, but I'm very interested.

I took the time to check it all out, and have concluded that the only prequel to "Planet of the Apes" is this new "Rise" movie.

Spoilers are contained in the below. To see this including the spoilers, you can highlight the text by swiping with a mouse. Or hit the Quote function icon.

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"Beneath the Planet of the Apes" is a story about astronauts sent in search of the original missing astronauts. They also wind up in the same future Earth and get involved with the remnants of human society, who are horribly mutated by the nuclear war that ending human society. The apes have discovered them and are about to exterminate what is left of them. The mutated remnant humans are in possession of a doomsday nuclear device and the movie ends with their use of it, ending all life on Earth.

"Escape from the Planet of the Apes" is a movie about 3 intelligent chimps avoiding the destruction of "Beneath" and escaping back to 20th century Earth by using one of the spaceships that crashed. That's plausible, eh?

"Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" I quote wikipedia entry, "In 1983 (several years after the end of Escape from the Planet of the Apes), a disease kills the world's cats and dogs, leaving humans with no pets. To replace them, humans began keeping monkeys and apes as household pets." You may not remember that from 1983. Something terrible happens no doubt but I read no further.

"Battle for the Planet of the Apes" is some kind of sequel to "Conquest"

Thanks to ThatDonGuy for the hide-the-spoiler technique.

PS: I haven't seen "Rise" but have to wonder if the bit about nuclear weapons plays a role.

Quote: Face

Sorry for off topic, but...

MrV, is that YouTube link a link to "Senna"? I'm currently at work and can't access it, but I'm very interested.

Yes, it is a link to the trailer.

My post was not off-topic, as the topic is about whether there are any good movies out there.

Too bad the only movie this group can get excited about stars anthropomorphic chimps.

There are top-flite movies out there, but you have to look.

Or, kick back and absorb mind candy like "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

Quality is no accident.

Quote: MrV

My post was not off-topic, as the topic is about whether there are any good movies out there.

I wasn't accusing you, I was just apologizing for my own interuption of the current discussion. (it is a review thread about a specific movie, not movies in general)

Thanks for the "Senna" heads up. I've seen a lot detailing his life, career and details of his passing. I'm sure to enjoy a doc about him.

Quote: Wizard

Getting back to Rise, the audience can see as the story was taking place that a manned US spacecraft had entered the orbit of Mars and was ready to make a landing. That certainly ties into the first Apes movie, and would make for a good segue for a sequel.

This movie was obviously written hoping they could turn it into a franchise.

La Planète des singes was the original novel written in French by Pierre Boulle (February 20th, 1912 - January 30th, 1994). Read the synopsis (in English). the plot differs in significant ways from the 1968 movie.


Cornelius, Dr. Zira, Dr Zaïus and Nora are the character names kept from the original novel.
The hero of the novel is Ulysse Mérou, a journalist, who was replaced with Colonel George Taylor.

The nuclear war and the Statue of Liberty scene were not in the novel and were added by Rod Serling who wrote the original screen play.


Here is the suit that Andy Serkis wears with the sensors. They use CGI to superimpose the ape Caesar over his body. Andy uses his "Gollum" voice on his children, for fun and/or when they misbehave.




Boxoffice of the original movies
$32,589,624 Planet of the Apes 1968
$18,999,718 Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970
$12,348,905 Escape from the Planet of the Apes 1971
$ 9,043,472 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes 1972
$ 8,844,595 Battle for the Planet of the Apes 1973

The boxoffice gives you an idea of how unsuccessful sequals were in those days.

Quote: odiousgambit

I took the time to check it all out, and have concluded that the only prequel to "Planet of the Apes" is this new "Rise" movie.

Yeah, loops in time suck.

Logically speaking, every movie in a series involving a time loop is a sequel and a prequel of all the other movies!