Good, but could've been GREAT.

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2012)

I re-watched this recently for the first time since seeing it in the theatre. For the first three quarters, this was an excellent film. It was well thought out, briskly paced and was more and more interesting as it went along. They presented a somewhat plausible reason for the Apes gaining intelligence. I begun questioning myself why was I so down on this and only gave it a 6? Then I saw the last quarter and remembered exactly why.
The drama was just ratcheted up way too much and undermined what had been setup for most of the film. All of a sudden things were happening that were just so far fetched they became unintentionally funny. Admittedly, the last act was very entertaining with some great action sequences. As an origin story, it was pretty good and I'm excited about the potential sequel/new franchise.
Neither of the main actors blew me away, especially Freida Pinto, although she wasn't given much to work with. James Franco had at least a few scenes that were somewhat strong. It did have great special effects ala Lord of the Rings. Andy Serkis (aka Gollum) did a lot of the motion capture and the Cesar character was outstanding; no question, he brought Cesar to life and made him very convincing. Somehow this didn't win for special effects at the Oscars (which is always annoying, it should've been this or Transformers Dark of the Moon but whatever).
Is this worth seeing, yes. Do I think it was one of the best films from last year? Unfortunately no.
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