Terrific - best Apes film so far

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 2011)

A brief plot synopsis - scientist Will Rodman (James Franco), researching a cure for Alzheimer's (and, as usual for a movie scientist, pumping untried medicines into all and sundry contrary to all established medical protocols) finds himself rearing Caeser, a hyper-intelligent baby chimpanzee. Caeser has to be put into an animal centre after attacking the next-door neighbour while trying to protect Will's Alzheimer's-affected father (John Lithgow), and the ill-treatment Caesar and other apes suffer at the hands of worker Dodge (Tom Felton) seed the start of Caesar's plan to bring the apes together.
This film is not perfect, but it is probably the most perfectly satisfying film I have seen this year. After 5 to 10 minutes of exposition, (culminating in an explosive and destructive rampage by prize research chimp Bright Eyes) there is a sequence where a moving camera follows Caesar as he swings through the Rodman house. All the Apes films up to this one have featured humans in ape costumes: here, for the first time, the story is told from an ape's point of view, and this exhilarating sequence, wonderfully realised, makes it clear that being a chimpanzee is very, very different to being a human.
This epitomises the strength of this film: despite the humanity which is clear in Caesar (we feel his bewilderment at being put in the company of other apes when his behaviour has been completely determined by the fact that he has only ever had human contact), the viewer is never in any doubt that these are apes, not humans in masks.
The performance capture and CGI are excellent. Apart from the occasional dodgy moment, the CGI is flawless, and the lack of dialogue on the apes' part is never a problem - it is always 100% clear what is being communicated. Kudos to Andy Serkis in particular for his captured performance.
The human performances are less dazzling, although John Lithgow is sad and touching. Tom Felton plays, essentially, Draco Malfoy with stubble, an American accent and a cattle prod, and Freida Pinto is decorative but unnecessary. Brian Cox's part could have been played by anybody - it didn't need a Name actor - and frankly, so could James Franco's. But it doesn't matter: this is entirely the apes' movie, and it is the best Apes film out of the 7 (so far) committed to celluloid. You know that "Knocks your socks off" moment in the 1968 original? Well, there are a number of them in this.
Highly recommended.