Review of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2011)

A glimpse of this movie's trailer at a suburban mall is what caught my attention. It seemed like an interesting concept - apes taking over the world, getting intelligent. More research revealed that this is actually a part of a series (although not in a direct way) about apes ruling a planet. Information gave rise to curiosity and finally turned into enthusiasm which is when I decided to give this movie a shot. And it didn't disappoint.
The story should be familiar to people aware with the series - a new drug is being developed by a scientist Will Rodman to cure Alzheimer's. The drug is tested on a chimp who is killed while trying to defend her baby. The baby chimp then inherits the mother's genes and intelligence which develops far more than what the drug's maker's anticipated. What's interesting is the way this movie has been presented to people who are unfamiliar to the series - no worries, you're not at all gonna feel out of place. So, you definitely don't need to go through the previous movies to watch this one.
There's little of character development or outstanding performances here (excepting the main chimp Caeser that is who gets both of these). What makes the movie work at least for me is the writing and the direction. Watch the scene when Caeser defends Will's Dad. Endearing and mesmerizing. The effects are awesome as well. Its hard to believe that so much could be achieved for a relatively small budget (about $90 million). I guess when it comes to top notch visual effects at a relatively low cost, Weta is the one to approach. They could create a whole planet in Avatar for $237 million, the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy for about $300 million and also did the aliens in District 9 for $30 million. Need I say more ???
The movie has a really fresh feel to it - it has that typical summer science-fiction feel to it yet it is much more than that. It only runs too short - a little more time, say a run time of about 2.5 hours would have given the movie enough time to establish the characters and would have made it a masterpiece on the lines of Peter Jackson's King Kong. Its perhaps because of the short run time that Freida Pinto's and James Franco's characters get limited screen time and scope to perform. Nevertheless, for all that it is, this is a great summer movie with an outstanding performance by Andy Serkis as Caeser and a technically sound film in all departments (cinematography, VFX, production design and the likes). In short, its all that I expected it to be. If you do not have a problem in suspension of disbelief, I strongly recommend this movie !!! Score: 7.5 / 10