{"id":12596,"date":"2011-08-04T19:23:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-04T18:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=12596"},"modified":"2011-08-08T03:03:18","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T02:03:18","slug":"rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/08\/04\/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whilst pushing boundaries in visual effects, the latest instalment of the Planet of the Apes franchise is less successful at old fashioned elements like story and character.<\/p>\n

Pierre Boule\u2019s 1963 novel<\/a> about a world where apes are the dominate species inspired a franchise of five films<\/a> from 1968 to 1973, the most notable being the original Planet of the Apes<\/a> (1968) starring Charlton Heston.<\/p>\n

After an unwise big-budget remake<\/a> from Tim Burton in 2001, 20th Century Fox have decided to revive the series by going back to the present day and exploring the early origins of intelligent apes.<\/p>\n

The story begins when a San Francisco scientist (James Franco) develops a possible cure for Alzheimer\u2019s Disease<\/a> and over a period of several years notices the remarkable effects of his new drug on a chimpanzee named Caesar (Andy Serkis), who gradually begins to rebel against his human masters.<\/p>\n

Essentially a prequel very loosely based on the original films, the main aim here was to create a summer blockbuster in which the main attraction is not a movie star or character but the visual effects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Employing\u00a0Weta Digital<\/a>, the main effects company behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Avatar, the film does indeed break ground in the field of performance capture technology.<\/p>\n

Having Andy Serkis play the lead ape via performance capture technology<\/a> certainly gives his character a sense of believability and depth, that a purely digital version created from scratch would not.<\/p>\n

Not only do the faces of the apes feel more authentic but their movement and interplay with live action characters is about as impressive as the current technology will allow.<\/p>\n

The basic storyline of the apes rising also builds on the powerful metaphor that has made the franchise endure over several decades as a kind of riff on Frankenstein<\/a> and the arrogance of mankind.<\/p>\n

However, the film also cuts corners in vital areas, with the human drama weakened by undercooked writing and an overreliance on digital effects.<\/p>\n

The main actors are woefully underwritten and simply going through the motions: Franco walks through the film in a haze (much like he did whilst presenting the Oscars<\/a>), Frieda Pinto as his partner is merely a cipher, John Lithgow is only intermittently engaging as Franco\u2019s father and David Oyelowo is given an utterly ridiculous role as the token corporate villain in a suit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also popping up in curiously underdeveloped roles as ape-keepers are Brian Cox (who is shamefully wasted) and Tom Felton, who appears like he\u2019s on a sabbatical from the Harry Potter franchise.<\/p>\n

This all makes the interaction between the two species less effective because it is hard to care about apes rising when the humans are such one-note dullards.<\/p>\n

The visual scope is also limited by director Rupert Wyatt<\/a> using a lot of interior locations: houses, labs and cages dominate much of the film and even when it ventures outside for the big finale, one of the most iconic locations in America is clearly an alternative bridge augmented by green screen effects.<\/p>\n

As a studio Fox has become very fond of shooting major releases on an efficient budget in places such as Canada, like The A-Team<\/a> (2010), or Australasia, such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine<\/a> (2009).<\/p>\n

This obviously pleases the studio accountants but reduces the scale and overall visual feel of films on the big screen and Rise of the Planet of the Apes<\/strong> does not benefit from this penny-pinching approach.<\/p>\n