Second viewing: Still great!...

Rating: 9/10 (29 August 2012)

The CGI in this film is truly stunning, and although you know most of it is computer generated, it doesn't detract from the enjoyment. As far as performances go, well, for me, the star was definitely Andy Serkis who did the vast majority of the motion-capture work for Caesar, a really stunning performance. As far as the humans go, well, James Franco did a decent job as Will Rodman, as did Freida Pinto as Caroline Aranha, although I felt her character was never fully developed and consequently she was woefully underused. John Lithgow was excellent as Will's father, Charles and Brian Cox was suitably sleazy as John Landon. Tom Felton did a good job as the evil handler, Dodge Landon and David Oyelowo was Will's boss, Steven Jacobs.
I loved every minute of this film and I really hope any sequels that are made keep to the same standard. If I have one criticism, it's that the human characters are not particularly well developed. I can forgive that to a large extent because it forces the audience to see things from Caesar's perspective. There are plenty of references and nods to the original 1968 film starring Charlton Heston (something to look out for). Certainly one of my favourite films of 2011 and I see nothing here to change my view. I have given it a slightly lower score than after my first viewing, mainly because the film does loose a little of its impact when scaled down for the small screen. Even so, well worth a look for any fan of the 'Apes' films and even those that haven't seen them.
SteelMonster's verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
My score: 8.8/10
IMDb Score: 7.7/10 (based on 176,850 votes at the time of going to press).
MetaScore: 68/100: (Based on 39 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83/100 (based on 240 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 87/100 'Liked it' (based on 85,827 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.