Plodding, droll

Rating: 5/10 (20 August 2011)

The pace of ROTPOTA is terribly slow, particularly given that the audience pretty much knows where the storyline is going the whole time. I was checking my watch after less than a half hour. The story line is rather silly and stupid. The moral issues are not well presented or consistently adhered to through the movie. One of the most memorable lines from the original POTA ("... damned dirty ape ...") is delivered forgettably this time, by an utterly despicable character played by an unknown actor. Heston is rolling in his grave. I give the movie 5 stars for the CGI *acting*. However, much of the CGI *action* is lame. I especially did not appreciate the ape climbing action, which was way too fast and smooth. Not uncanny, just not realistic. I'm sorry, but just because a computer can generate footage that can't be completely processed by the human viewer's brain doesn't make it good. Apes climbing a building were too synchronized. Then there are the product placements. Several of them stood out like sore thumbs, but none more than the guy stuck in traffic who turns his smart phone toward the camera just so we can see it's a BLACKBERRY! Woo-hoo!!