A Decent But Slightly Overrrated Film

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2017)

Rise of The Planet of The Apes is the first film in the new rebooted Planet of the Ape franchise. I am not that into Planet of The Apes. I had only seen the original before this. This movie is not as good as the original but it is still a well-made film regardless. I'm glad I saw it and am looking forward to the new film coming out next year.
The film stars a scientist named Will Rodman (James Franco) trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer's because his father Charles (John Lithgow) has it. He starts by testing his new drug on apes and one of them does very well and is vastly more intelligent. Will tries to get the board to give him more funding but one of the apes goes out of control and gets killed. That ape was pregnant with a baby ape which Will adopts and names Caesar. Caesar inherited the drug from his mom so he becomes much more intelligent as he matures. However, he causes an accident and has to be put in an ape shelter. There he gradually befriends the other apes while getting treated horribly by the workers there. They eventually stage a revolt with Caesar as the leader.
The film is well-made. The acting is good. I am a fan of James Franco as an actor. This is not his best performance that I've seen but he does a good job. The cg looks good in many places. The story is good and I think it is a decent start to a new franchise. It is taking what the original setup but doing something different. Instead of war paving the way for the takeover it is a virus caused by the drug James Franco's character invented. I thought that was a good way to distinguish itself. I thought the action at the end was fun and well executed, especially the scene on the bridge.
This film does have some problems that do not ruin the film but are noteworthy. Firstly, the CGI of the apes, while very good in many spots, was very noticeable in some spots, especially the cg for Caesar. While the film is under two hours it feels longer. The pacing kind of drags in the middle. Aside from Will and Caesar none of the other characters are that interesting. They are very one note characters that mostly serve to make us feel bad for Caesar. Some characters had no business being there like Will's girlfriend Freida. Lastly the film is a bit too heavy-handed.
The film is good but it is not something I would re-watch all the time. This is due to the fact that the film is sad throughout and it tries a bit too hard to pull on your heart strings. Again, the bad guys are very one-dimensional characters that are just there to advance the plot. This suffers from some of the problems Avatar suffered from, though this film is better.
Another issue is the constant references and homages to the original Planet of the Apes. Whether it'd be uttering the classic lines or showing references like the space shuttle going to Mars. One or two callbacks are fine but six or more is not. A reboot should be able to stand on its own without drawing any references from the original movies.
Overall, Rise of the Apes was a decent start to the new Apes franchise. The film is a bit heavy-handed, and some of its characters are quite bland. Despite that the film does have things that keep you invested. The acting is fine. James Franco and Andy Serkis as Caesar are good character you come to invest in. The action scenes at the end are fun to watch. The story is competent and I like this new angle this film takes on a classic story. If you like Planet of the Apes then you should check this out and the newest film coming if you like it.