We were eager to see this and were not disappointed, despite my having seen none of the previous versions and Jack's having seen only the 1968 original. It's great fun to watch computer generated (CG) apes swinging, jumping, climbing, and, surprise, there's a human story for James Franco, who plays a scientist working on a cure for his father's (John Lithgow) Alzheimer's. Busy Franco (I wrote some about him in Milk, then we saw him in the 2010 releases Date Night, Eat Pray Love, Howl, and his Oscar nominated turn in 127 Hours) is earnest as Will, who acts fatherly towards his dad as well as towards the genetically enhanced ape Caesar. Andy Serkis, who has played dozens of human roles, few of which I've seen, performs the motion capture for Caesar's CG and did the same honors as Gollum/Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings series (2001, 02, 03) (as well as two upcoming Hobbit movies now filming) and the title character in King Kong (2005), and it's startling how human these apes appear on the screen. In fact, it had me giggling many times. This video will give you some insight into how it was done, with no spoilers if you have seen the trailer. Lithgow (my favorites: The World According to Garp (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Footloose (1984), 139 episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001), and a scary series arc on Dexter in 2009) is wonderful as the poor old dad and David Oyelowo (he's English of Nigerian descent) is crafty as the CEO of Will's research facility. Also ably supporting are Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger) as Will's love interest, Brian Cox (profiled in Red) as the head of the animal shelter, Tom Felton (best known as Draco Malfoy in all the Harry Potter movies) as his cruel son Dodge who works with him, and Tyler Labine (I watched all of the very silly and probably deservedly canceled Sons of Tucson) as the sympathetic ape handler. There are many connections regarding names that you can find in this trivia page. Jack spotted one of the two Charlton Heston appearances and whispered to me the relevance of the name Cornelia during the movie the other day.
Rupert Wyatt (new to me, and check the trivia link above for the list of directors considered before he got the gig) directs the script by Amanda Silver (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)) and her husband Rick Jaffa (nothing I've seen). There is more trivia on the wikipedia page under References to original film series, but it's loaded with spoilers, so best to read it after you see the movie.
The exciting soundtrack, composed by Patrick Doyle, has been released on CD, and you can hear it by starting with this link and progressing as suggested.
As noted above, we liked this a lot. The battle on the Golden Gate bridge is alone worth the price of admission, though the Muir Woods sequences are also captivating.
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