Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Dir: Rupert Wyatt
2011
***
To be honest, the old PG Tips Tea bag adverts with the Chimps drinking tea on a loop for 2 hours would have been a better inclusion to the franchise than Tim Burton's effort, so Rise of the Planet of the Apes had a bit of slack to work with but to it's credit, it was pretty good in its own right. It's a very different film from the 1968 original, mainly because it is seen at a different point in history. I love the third film, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, but this seems to have been ignored (seeing as they would know about the Apes as in the film they arrived in the early 70's) so while there is news coverage of the Mars spaceflight in the background to link it with the first film, the Apes universe is sort of in tact but we can probably ignore Beneath the Planet of the apes (fine) and Escape from Planet of the Apes (less fine) and continue with what is essentially a remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It isn't a typical sci-fi adventure, everything is a little bit rushed to fit into the 2 hour run time but it's good fun, is exciting and is a little bit more intelligent than your average summer blockbuster. It fits into the franchise quite well and although the CGI wasn't always great, it is an example of a reboot done well. Conquest and Battle were never that popular or viewed as much though, so an easier task than usual but credit is rightfully due.