An exciting reboot of a nearly fifty-year old franchise

Rating: 6/10 (15 July 2017)

Using awe-inspiring motion capture technology, this reboot takes a fresh new look at the franchise and creates a remarkable start to a trilogy. Chimps are captured in the jungle and brought to a research facility where Will Rodman (James Franco) researches Alzheimer's. Due to an incompetent worker Robert Franklin (Tyler Labine), a chimp, named Bright Eyes due to the green eyes that are a symptom of the heightened intelligence, escapes and is brutally killed scaring off investors before human trials. Franklin and Will discover a baby chimp in Bright Eye's cage. Franklin convinces Will to take the ape so he doesn't have to put it down. Will returns home where he cares for his father Charles (John Lithgow) who suffers from Alzheimer's and names the chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis). The baby already exhibits advanced intelligence and grows smarter over the next three years. Charles's condition worsens during the same three years until Will brings home a sample of the drug.
Charles almost immediately recovers as Caesar finds himself in trouble with the neighbors. Caesar is injured so Will takes him to a vet at the zoo, Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto). Together they take Caesar to the redwood forest across the Golden Gate Bridge. Caesar grows even smarter and stronger over the next five years but is distressed when he sees a dog on a leash like him. Will sees Caesar's intelligence increase exponentially but the effects of the medicine wear off on his father. Caesar fights the neighbor again when Charles, in an attack of dementia, tries to drive the neighbor's car. Caesar is forced to go to an animal shelter run by John Landon (Brian Cox) and his ruthless son Dodge (Tom Felton). Caesar reacts poorly to being in captivity and the harsh treatment from Dodge.
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