Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011)

A scientist (James Franco) has been attempting to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease in the hopes of helping his father (John Lithgow) who is suffering from the illness. Using a retrovirus on chimpanzees, the results are impressive but when a female chimpanzee goes berserk and is hot dead, the project is shut down. But Franco brings the dead chimp's baby home to raise. As he grows, the ape (Andy Serkis) shows amazing intelligence. Both a prequel and a reboot of the classic 1968 film PLANET OF THE APES, the film suffers from a slow moving first hour that's full of exposition and some fat that should have been excised. The father/son relationship slows down the film's rhythm rather than adding to it and the love story between Franco and lovely Freida Pinto (wasted) is an unnecessary nuisance. There's also a lot of the usual cliches, the greedy corporation more concerned with big profits rather than human lives, the nasty animal abusers who tease and torture the caged simians, etc. The second half of the film (starting with the cookie sequence) kicks the film into high gear and it's a real thrill ride from that point on. It's difficult to disguise that the apes are CGI creations rather than real but Andy Serkis as Caesar, the ape's revolt leader gives a terrific performance. The disappointing score is by Patrick Doyle. Directed by Rupert Wyatt and with Brian Cox and David Oyelowo.