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Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, and Andy Serkis
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Screenplay by: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver

    It's survival of the fittest in this prequel to the Planet of the Apes series.  And we humans aren't the fittest to survive.
    Will Rodman (James Franco) has created a new virus that has the potential to cure Alzheimer's disease.  But of course, there are side effects.  While testing the virus on chimpanzees, one subject, Bright Eyes, suddenly turns violent.  It turns out that she was pregnant and is now protecting her baby.  Bright Eyes is put down and Rodman raises her baby who he names Caesar.  The virus is passed down to Caesar.  He becomes unusually intelligent for an ape and gets smarter, seemingly every day.
    One day, Caesar is taken to a chimpanzee shelter after attacking one of Rodman's neighbors.  Caesar must get used to the strange environment of the shelter, and hope that Rodman will come back for him at some point.  One night, Caesar sneaks out of the shelter, goes to Rodman's house and takes one of the viruses Rodman stole to treat his ill father.  It's a gas that Caesar releases into the air around the other chimps when he gets back to the shelter.
    So now all the other chimps become more intelligent than they should be and this leads to more bad stuff.  What happens next?  You'll just have to find out for yourselves.
    First and foremost, this film connects very well to the original Planet of the Apes (1968 version).  Some famous lines are repeated in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  There are also scenes that help us link this film to the original.   For example, a newscast showing the astronauts being launched into space.  However, my only complaint about that particular scene is that it is out of place in the film.  It breaks up a scene that should not be broken up.  There is no good place it could have been put yet it is necessary to connect these two movies.
    The best part of the film is Andy Serkis as Caesar.  He delivers an unbelievable performance that makes this movie great.  It's hard to believe that under all that CGI, there's an actual person playing the part of a chimpanzee.  And yes, the CGI is also excellent, but not the most impressive part of the show.
    Many of the action sequences are rather intense and some of the scenes that take place in the chimpanzee shelter are hard to watch.
    If you're planning to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes, in the near future, I highly recommend that you see the original first.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes is well put together, is a perfect length, and leads into the 1968 Planet of the Apes seamlessly.  It's an excellent prequel to a great movie.
    The apes will rise to the A- level.

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