Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Directed by: Rupert Wyatt

Memorable quotes:

Caroline Aranha: "I think you've built a pretty good home for Caesar here.
Will Rodman: But?
Caroline: He won't stay this way for long. He's gonna soon grow into a large, powerful animal. [to Caesar] Come here. How has he been doing?
Will: Okay. I think.
Caroline: I love chimpanzees. I'm also afraid of them. And it's appropriate to be afraid of them."

Will Rodman: "What he is doing?
Caroline Aranha: I don't believe that!
Will: What?
Caroline: He's asking your permission. It's a supplicating gesture."

Caroline Aranha: "This is wrong, Will.
Will Rodman: My father was gone. This drug brought him back. You never saw how bad he was. He has his life again.
Caroline: And what about Caesar?
Will: What about him?
Caroline: Where does he fit in?
Will: With me, with us.
Caroline: Listen, I know it's been hard for you, but you're trying to control things that are not meant to be controlled.
Will: The 112 works.
Caroline: Do you realize how you sound?
Will: All I'm saying is, this is a good thing. Caesar is a proof of that. So is my father."

Will Rodman: I can't lose them both. I won't lose them both.

Steven Jacobs: "What? What are you saying?
Will Rodman: My father didn't just recover. He improved.
Steven: You mean increased intelligence?
Will: It's not conclusive, but yes."

Party girl: "Wow, there's a hundreds of them. This is like your own private zoo!
Dodge Landon: More like a prison for hairy dudes."

Caroline Aranha: Hey, some things aren't meant to be changed. You have to accept this.

Steven Jacobs: You make history. I make money. Wasn't that our arrangement?

Will Rodman: "What happened?
Rodney: He spoke.
Will: What do you... what?
Rodney: Your ape... he spoke."

Plot:

An extraordinary smart chimpanzee, who feels betrayed by humans after he is left in an abusing sanctuary, decides it's time for him and his fellow creatures to start an uprising against men's domination.

Review:

As a fan of the original, I was clearly sceptical about a prequel. If there is one thing modern movies have taught me, it's that modern special effects don't necessarily go hand in hand with high quality. A movie can have the best special effects of our time, use all the technology we acquired, and yet be complete crap and completely lack of a good storyline. It was thus with apprehension that I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes. To be honest, I think that this film can't even compare with the 1968 Planet of the Apes . The original is still the best, simple as that.
Now, this doesn't mean it was a bad film either. I quite enjoyed it as a matter of fact. Sure there was a few loopholes, and a few things didn't really match or were left unexplained, but it didn''t prevent me from enjoying this film and from having a good time watching it.
Most of the actors were good, although I expected a bit more from James Franco. He was just so mind blowing in 127 hours, that I somehow expect him to deliver the same performance everytime I see him now. Clearly, the quality of the script does make a difference though, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes wasn't nearly as challenging. Sure they must have used the green screen a lot, but I don't feel like he had to display such a wild array of emotions while playing Will. I really liked the actress who played Caroline Aranha though. I thought she was nice to see play alongside James Franco. They made a belivable couple.  John Lithgow, who played the father, was probably my favourite actor in this movie though. He had to play someone suffering from the Alzheimer disease, and as such I suppose it must have been quite tough and sad to portray.
The only actor that I thought shouldn't have been in this movie in the first place is Tom Felton. His character was such a cliche. He was ridiculous. His character had no substance at all, and I felt like he was just there to add a famous name to the credits. I still cannot say that I'm now able to recognize Tom Felton talent, since he portrayed his character the exact same way he portrayed Draco Malefoy in Harry Potter. In fact, it felt like Draco Malefoy had escaped Hogwarts, ran off to the muggles, and found a job in this center where they are supposedly taking care of monkeys. He was a huge disappointment and I always find it upsetting when they hire someone just because they are popular. In this particular case, the storyline really didn't need them and I'm not exactly sure his presence is doing the film a favour.
Apart from that, the film did somehow justice to the original and I thought it was really interesting. I liked how they managed to include a reflection on science and its dangers. We live in an age where science has made some major progress, and where scientists can be tempted to go too far with their experiments. This sub-plot was thus perfectly appropriate and it gave a touch of realism to this Sci-Fi film.

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