The plot has more holes in it than a string vest, but I loved the movie!

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 2011)

This was a pleasant surprise, and held me spellbound from beginning to end. One kind of knows what is about to happen most of the time, but what carries the film is both the superb CG cast and incredibly skilled humans, considering they're acting and reacting to non-existent co-stars.
I think the sign of a good movie is that you go away from it thinking new things, and with images and scenes staying in the mind. If that is the only criterion, then 10/10. At risk of being boring, the CG is so good that one forgets it much of the time.
A few flaws maybe. Not least, is there really a Millennium Dome-sized sanctuary for abandoned apes in the middle of San Francisco? ... and with that many apes swinging about, where's all the poop? Also, surely, if you travel about with a walking, signing, chess-playing, super-intelligent ape, wouldn't your neighbours, the media and the authorities take a little more interest? Oh, well, movieland!
It was enjoyable to watch John Lithgow playing a straight role. I happen to work with people with dementia, and while I dislike the use of this condition to fuel a movie plot, his portrayal was a fine piece of work, reflecting the mixture of inability to grasp what is happening around oneself, yet with islands of self-awareness surviving in deeper parts of the mind.
Communication could be a theme in this movie, but also one of its flaws. Caesar's ability to to rapidly communicate with his ape comrades is poorly explained ... they get organised and leap into action rather too efficiently. There are the mandatory action sequences and explosions later in the movie, but the director manages not to let this destroy the character and plot development.
PS. Stay in your seat when the credits roll, or you'll miss the teaser for what will hopefully be 'Apes II. A second movie would be welcome, there's plenty of scope. Maybe a trilogy?