Project X..... On Steroids!

Rating: Null/10 (7 August 2011)

When I was a kid, I was at the zoo in the gorilla exhibit. There was this big gorilla pressed against the glass just staring at me. It was the first experience I had becoming face to face with a gorilla and it was between glass. The zookeeper told me that they can be very aggressive, and I just imagined what it could be like if there wasn't that glass separating us.
This movie made me remember that experience.
This is the kind of film that I go to films for. Masterful storytelling and awesome direction. It puts you right there without the needless 3D gimmick. I was engrossed into it from beginning to end. I saw it with someone who had no intentions of seeing this movie at all, and by the end even she had to admit that she enjoyed it.
The film follows former Oscar host James Franco running a science lab filled with chimps, and he's conducting an experiment to end Alzeheimers disease. When one of the chimps run amok and get shot down, he discovers that she was carrying a baby chimp and he is forced to take the baby home to nurture him. There we discover that his dad (John Lithgow) has Alzeheimers and that is his motivation for discovering the cure.
As the film goes on, we see the chimp grow into an adult, become smarter, and is being introduced to the world where he is regarded as an animal when he wants to be treated as a human. A turning point in the story where he is taken back to the lab with the other chimps, and how he struggles with mistreatment. Eventually they break out, and wages a war against the humans.
That's telling the movie in a nutshell, but it's something to be experienced because there is a lot more detail to discover in the story. It's rich in storytelling, and there's a lot of emotion to be had. This is just something to be experienced at the cinema.
My only gripes about this film is that I wish they would use actual chimps than CGI. At some points it almost took me out of the film because I keep wishing Hollywood would stop with the computers and use the real thing. Also the movie ended beautifully, but then they stick another scene in there a minute after the credits that I felt wasn't necessary other than to set up a sequel but they didn't need to put it in there.
I can't recommend this film enough. This is the best summer movie of 2011 to me, by far. With summer almost ending, I doubt the rest of the lineup could live up to it. Long live the apes!