In the 2011 update of the classic Planet of the Apes James Franco’s, Will, has been researching a cure for Alzheimer’s. When making the case to the board he works for something goes terribly wrong during his presentation and main test subject “Bright Eyes” has to be put down when she displays erratic behavior. We later learn that Bright Eyes has an offspring who becomes know as Caesar when Will is left in charge to care for the young ape at home. Will stumbles upon a mutated gene in Caesar that rapidly accelerates and reverses the Alzeimer’s when used on his father, Charles, played by John Lithgow. Casear grows up and becomes more and more increasingly superior in his intelligence. Along the way Will, meets, Caroline, played by the soft spoken Freida Pinto who falls for him and helps him to continue raising Caesar. The movie takes a while to build but when it does the drama really unfolds when an incident occurs between Will’s neighbor, Caesar and Charles. Will realizes that the drug he thought was curing his father was actually causing more harm by speeding up Charles’s imminent death. At this moment you feel the lost and failures in Will’s life; his father dying and Caesar being dragged off to what could be compared to a Nazi camp also known as a holding facility for apes. While there Caesar endures harsh treatment and the world which he has come to know is no more. We see Will struggle to get Caesar out of the environment but the legal system prevents him and Caesar eventually feels Will has given up on him. Caesar starts to realize where he truly belongs by bonding with his fellow inmates and wittingly starts to devise a plan to free himself and all the other apes after their harsh treatments. They are tired, fed up of being treated like pets and just like any social movement the apes rise up against the human species to declare war for their right to be free from bondage and experimentation.
Franco and company give believable performances and their emotions do not feel forced. The CGI team should be commended for not making the humans playing apes so unrealistic and the screenwriters give just the right balance of communication between the actors and apes and apes with apes. Without a doubt this movie is way better than the version with Mark Whalberg. We actually care about Caesar’s humanistic characteristics and his struggle to understand himself, we care about the protagonist Will and him wanting to be successful at any cost but we also care because in the end compassion always triumphs over arrogance. Grade B+
Posted by CCL
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