A reboot done right!

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2014)

Being a fan of the original Planet of the apes series that first starred Charleton Heston, I was somewhat excited and worried when there was news about the new reboot known as Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
When I got the chance to see it, I was blown away on how faithful it was to the original movies. There were many nods and references throughout the reboot but the strongest factor in ROTPOTA was the character development of Caesar (quite a bit rare in your typical Hollywood film these days).
James Franco as Will Rodman may be the top billing actor but Andy Serkis as Caesar is the key main character in this wonderful reboot. As we see Caesar's life grow, we get to see how he is becoming aware of himself and his consciousness all because of his enhanced intelligence of a drug that genetically engineered his mother in the beginning of the film.
One downside of the film was that it did not have the same social commentary as the original Apes film did. But maybe that will be saved for the next sequels. ROTPOTA was only the beginning of a new series. I did think this movie had a lot to say about animal abuse and does remind us that apes and other animals may not be as intelligent as humans, but they are still sentient creatures like us.
I highly recommend this to fans of the original Series and I will say this is 100 times better than the Tim Burton remake back in 2001.