Now I had all intentions of doing a "normal" review for 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' but life kind of got in the way and I ended up not writing one. What I did write though was an assignment for my writing class about the different aspects of the film. I have also included a brief summary at the end giving my over all thoughts about the film as well.
Universal Themes - For this film it showed how most people look down upon animals regardless of intelligence and how they don’t know how to open their minds and accept anything different than what they think is “normal.” Which then fits into the much larger topic of bigotry and not being able to accept anything different and treat them as equals. The movie digs a little into this topic and very much into the repercussions of acting this way.
Personal Impact - As a huge animal lover this movie hooked me very easily and made me hate the humans in this film. Now sure it didn’t change anything about what I already thought, but it put a huge reinforcement into how I feel. I just really think it’s wrong what people do to animals and I wish I had some control over how they were treated. (Both parties, animals and loser people who treat them badly.)
Character / Plot Arc - This movie did a great job of showing the relationship between man and ape. An even better job was done in showing the final break of they’re relationship and well, the rise of the planet of the apes. Now some of the human relationships between each other weren’t really developed very well and almost just shoved to the side, but I give major kudos to the film for doing that instead of putting the actors as the main characters. The movie is about apes, so the main character should be an ape, Michael Bay could learn a thing or two from this film.
Art Direction - Everything from sets to costumes was done very well, though it was set in current times so there really wasn’t much challenge there, although some films can’t even get that right, so good job, I guess. As for the effects, they were on the top side of “ehh” or maybe the low side of good, but nothing spectacular. There was really just one thing were they messed up too, the faces of the apes. It was super cool that they decided to CGI the faces because it did add a lot to the film but at the same time, it always looked fake. Now this wasn’t a HUGE problem but there were a few times were I was pulled out of the film and though to myself, “Wow, that looks fake.” Those scenes were very reminiscent of ‘Matrix Reloaded’ and ‘Spider-Man’.
Performances - The performances were all solid across the board. You had a movie full of great actors, which after ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, I know for a fact means absolutely nothing but still it’s James Franco backed up by Freida Pinto and Tom Felton. Everyone was just very believable in there roles and had you rooting either for or against them. None of them made me wish they had cast someone else thanks to over or under acting, which is also a huge plus.
Final Thoughts - This was an amazing film and in my opinion the best film of 2011. I just don't see how anything will be able to "rise" above this film. Great acting, great story, great cinematography, this film has it all and I definitely recommend checking it out.
