Saint Simian

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2012)

After Tim Burton's crummy remake of the sci-fi classic, anything would be an improvement. And "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is just that. This movie is unrelated to Burton's movie. Rather, it's a prequel to the original version, focusing on how the simian population grew intelligent. In this case, the son of a chimpanzee injected with a drug grows so intelligent that he becomes the leader of the apes. To be certain, the audience roots for the apes every step of the way, seeing how the humans treat them.
Obviously, this isn't any masterpiece. Some of the action is overdone, and a couple of scenes are obviously CGI. Still, motion capture star Andy Serkis -- best known as Gollum and King Kong, now playing Capt. Haddock -- is really neat as lead ape Caesar. Also starring are James Franco, Freida Pinto (of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame), John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies). I recommend the movie.