A Big Surprise

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2012)

!! Warning, spoilers ahead !!
A reboot of a franchise that should never have been. First off, I wasn't exactly over the moon over hearing the news of this film. The 1968 original was frankly spectacular, the performances were solid and the make up was very decent considering the time, this masterpiece in Science-Fiction was followed by awful low budget sequels only made for money (with the exception of Escape from the planet of the apes, which I found very interesting). Anyways, this film stars James Franco as Will Rodman, a scientist who is testing on chimps and finds a cure for Alzheimer's. However, a chimps goes rogue and ultimately gets shot and killed. Her baby is brought in by Will and raised by him. The drug significantly increased baby Caesar's intelligence and transformed him into an emotional, complex being. After an incident in which Caesar bites off a neighbour's finger, he is caged up and forced to live with his own kind. At first, he is scared and lonely but as the character develops and changes, he leads a revolution against the human race. Throughout the whole film, I found myself cheering the apes, which I found very surprising. Andy Serkis did a fantastic job conveying the emotion felt by Caesar, Caesar came across as human. The only criticism I have, however, is the poorly delivered Charlton Heston lines by ol' Draco Malfoy. He ruined the 'stinking paws' and 'mad house' lines completely. Overall, a great film with a great plot, great performances, great cinematography and great direction.
Btw, when Caesar says 'noooooo!!!!, I was completely stunned and blown away. Completely fantastic.