While Tim Burton’s 2001 reimagining of the simian sci-fi saga Planet of the Apes managed to greatly revamp the make-up and prosthetics work that had won the original 1968 film an honorary Oscar, in many ways the Mark Wahlberg starrer lacked the searingly bleak intelligence and dark heart of its Charlton Heston ancestor. In short, while the primates looked and sounded prime, Burton’s baboons just weren’t damned dirty enough to appeal to fans old and new. With Rise of the Planet of the Apes, itself something of a spiritual reimagining of 1972’s Conquest of the etc., director Rupert Wyatt offers audiences a long awaited prequel to the Heston Planet, telling the story of one genetically altered chimpanzee named Caesar, who like his namesake, rises to power to create a new world order.
In a near future San Francisco laboratory, scientist Will Rodman (James Franco), is struggling to concoct a viral cure for Alzheimer’s disease, of which his father, John Lithgow, is a patient. Will’s ALZ 112 formula seems to be the Holy Grail for banjaxed brains, but an unfortunately timed bout of monkey business results in corporate suit Jacobs (David Oyelowo) shutting down the project and pulling the plug on the test chimps. Rodman chances upon an infant primate, a brilliant mo-cap performance by mo-cap maestro (King Kong, Gollum) Andy Serkis, and adopts the little scamp, taking him in to share his home with his worsening father.
A number of years later and Caesar has developed far beyond the intellectual capabilities of either his species or human children of the same age. Able to communicate by sign language with his de facto family (suck it, Chomsky), Caesar offers Will the chance to rebuild his scientific career as well as save his father from the degenerative effects of the disease claiming his life. Together with veterinarian Freida Pinto, Caesar lives a carefree life, solving puzzles and leaping lithely from every nook and cranny of his attic, with a knowing sparkle in his CGI eyes.
