Rousing prequel origin story of the classic sci-fi series; Serkis gives an Oscar-calibre turn; one of the year's best films.

Rating: Null/10 (8 August 2011)

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011) **** James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Tyler Labine. Rousing prequel origin story of the classic sci-fi series depicting how a super-smart chimpanzee named Caesar (with stellar motion-capture/CGI performance by Serkis, his cottage-industry triumph here Emoting and yes, my friends, deserving of an Oscar nomination!!) whose intelligence benefits from an experimental serum concocted by research scientist Franco (smartly playing it straight and laser focused) in an attempt to persuade his corporate pharmaceutical conglomerate to continue to find a cure for Alzheimer's Disease, ultimately unleashes a Pandora's Box of primate (r)evolution in the process. Relative newcomer filmmaker Rupert Wyatt skillfully balances the drama with the state-of-the-arts seamless visual f/x primarily with the other apes and the action sequences are stellar. Re-vamped with a knowing screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (i.e. nice homages to the original with character names – "Bright Eyes", dialogue "Take your stinking paws off me! You Damn Dirty Ape!! And a plot point involving a botched astronaut flight, and a blink-and-miss Statue of Liberty cameo!!) And some wonderful, surprisingly poignant sequences involving a heartbreaking turn by Lithgow as Franco's addled father and Caesar. Again hats off to Serkis for actually putting a living, breathing Soul into a CGI character. One of the year's best films.