Andy Serkis shines in this Great visual fest!

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2013)

Before you read this, note that English is not my first language so expect some grammatic errors down below.
I had been looking forward to seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes for a long time. Mainly because I like James Franco and Andy Serkis, but also cause I found the plot to be pretty interesting. I thought I was going to see an action movie, turns out I was wrong. But more on that later.
The story centers on Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist who is working on a cure for Alzheimer. As the cure is being tested on primates one of the subjects escapes from its cage and all the apes are put to death. However, Will takes one of the surviving apes home. The apes mother was one of the test subjects so the effect of the cure is transferred to the orphaned primate. This ape is named Caesar (Andy Serkis). The effect of the cure makes Caesar smarter and he learns sign language. After Caesar hurts a man in defense he is transferred to monkey custody. And it is at this point that things get grim. Everything culminates in a spectacular battle between intelligent apes and the whole human police force. How unbelievable it may sound, you actually buy it. That's a feat you have to congratulate the director and writer for.
Let's talk about the acting. It is in the range of "solid" to "outstanding". James Franco really shines in the moments when he works on the cure and when he communicates with Caesar. Other than that he is just good. Freida Pinto plays Francos love interest in this movie. Why she really is in this picture is beyond me. Her acting is only good at best. Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies) plays the bad "zoo keeper" and he does it really well. He is great at playing with his emotions and it really gives the character more depth. While there are some big actors in this film, the true star of this movie is Andy Serkis. With a resume including other motion capture roles such as Gollum, Captain Haddock and King Kong, his role as Caesar is his most remarkable. Caesar is such a deep and layered character and there is so much character development in this role. Though he only speak in sign (if you've seen the movie you know there is more to it later on) his body language and facial expressions says so very much. Andy Serkis is so subtle and precise that the character feels real. I can't understand how he didn't win an Oscar for this role.
So let's talk about the visuals. The effects are amazing. Every ape looks unique and surprisingly photo realistic. The skin of every primate has realistic wrinkles and the fur looks fantastic. The motion capture is so good and all the actors are great. And like I said the photorealism can't be compared to other movies.
The score is very good. It is exciting, fitting and really emotional at times. Most of the time it is there and it just works so well. It is really in sync with the movie. Overall it's a mighty, perfect soundtrack.
So as I said, I thought this was going to be an action blockbuster. I was wrong. Rise of the Planet of the Apes has some really cool ass kicking monkey action but it is reserved to the last half an hour of the movie. Rise is a drama and it tells the surprisingly interesting story about an ape trying to find his place in the society. Sounds weird but thanks to the brilliant acting (mostly by Mr. Serkis), a great script and great directing it really works. 8/10