I'm pretty good at deciding which film to go and see, a) because it's expensive; and b) I like to be entertained. I went to see The Rise of the Planet of the Apes last night (Friday) and frankly I was a little disappointed. I'm not sure what I was going to see on this occasion because I had only seen a couple of brief trailers and they looked okay and indeed the hype seemed pretty positive.
The storyline was okay although it did move along quite slowly in the early stages. The CGI animated chimpanzees is what let it down for me. Ironically, the rubber masks the actors wore in the 'Planet of the Apes' television series and films years ago were more convincing!
If ever there was a film which sets the scene for subsequent sequels, this was it. It sets the scene for future films; the end of this film was very much left 'in the air.'
The acting was fine and most of the special effects were fine too - except some of the animals. Harry Potter star Tom Feltham (Draco Malfoy) is very good as the sadistic keeper of chimpanzees - I really liked his performance and American star John Lithgow was superb as the father of the main character who is suffering from debilitating Alzheimer's - a brave and moving performance. It is good to see British stars appearing in the film which was set in San Francisco - Feltham, Brian Cox and David Oyelowo.
The Internet Movie Database shows the rating for the film from fans as 8 out of 10 which is quite high. The age rating is an appropriate 12A and I saw it in 2D (normal!)
I'm afraid I can't recommend this one as a top film and I'm not sure it was worth £7.30.
Chat soon
Ta-ra
