Planet of the Apes

In the spring of 2001 audiences seemed eager to see Tim Burton's retelling of the 1968 classic, "Planet of the Apes." By the summer of 2001 it seemed to be the movie everybody loved to hate. Were the criticisms fair? Not if you ask me.

2001's Planet of the Apes' biggest downfall, in my opinion, is unfortunately also it's biggest strength. Unlike many remakes which often end up as nothing more than weaker rehashes of their predecessor's this version of 'Apes' dared to be different. The plot has been stripped down to its bare bones and then rebuilt into something completely new. This is refreshing, if you ask me. Especially when rewatching it now, because just a few short years after this film came out we launched into sort of a remake renaissance, where half the tent pole films that come out every year are the same lesser rehashes that I spoke of a second ago. This film does take a moment here and there to wink at the '68 original, but Burton and his merry band of screenwriters has created a world completely original...it could be watched next to any entry of that original series as a wholey different film.

This is also the film's biggest flaw though, or at least financially speaking, because the original 'Apes' franchise has a cult following behind it that could almost rival that of Star Wars or Star Trek. The core audience for this film really only wanted to see their favourite story told with modern day effects and makeup. I don't think we needed that, but I'm not sure how many would agree with me.

Now, if you want to compare the two films plots and decide which one is stronger that's a whole other debate. But I don't think that's fair, that's why I champion it for taking such a different approach. I don't think this movie should be compared to any other movie and with that mindset a much better appreciation can be found. To put it bluntly, this movie ain't bad...in fact it's actually pretty good.

I won't deconstruct the plot for you...if you're interested enough to be reading this you probably at least know the jist of it anyway. But it's a solid and interesting plot that sets up a very fun and entertaining action adventure flick. Visually its in many ways a departure from typical Burton fair but his stamp is definitely evident in its art direction, and the atmosphere he creates in this jungle/desert/urban/high tech universe is really something to behold. The apes are not only impressive in terms of makeup but they are also creatively impressive from the choices of the species to match personalities, the incredible costumes and simply perfect performances by a cast who act through all that latex. And while I'm praising I'll also throw up a shout out for Danny Elfman's great score, which just might be one of his best.

The only caveat I'll lay on the movie is that the twist ending, obviously conceived to rival the famous twist of the original, kind of falls flat. BUT...considering how many instalments the original franchise had I have no doubt that the producers had hoped to make a sequel had this film been more financially successful, and had that sequel been made maybe we would've learned the story behind this twist and all would've been forgiven.

It's a little too late to say, 'long story short,' but I will anyway. Give this movie a fair shot. It may not be without its flaws but how many movies are? Try not to compare it to the original, just watch it with a bowl of popcorn and have fun.

Thank you Hollywood. Yet another movie classic utterly ruined by a cheap, shallow, effect-heavy and redundant remake. The original "Planet of the Apes" was an intelligent and thought-provoking movie with a very clear message. It was a movie that focused almost entirely on dialogue, which sounds very dull but was in fact very interesting.

This movie, on the other hand, seems to have done away with pretty much ALL the dialogues. Instead of a great movie we get an incredibly stupid two hour chase movie. Dialogue has been reduced to a mere minimum, character interaction and development are non-existent and most of the time it's extremely hard to figure out what's going on. Instead, we get a bunch of pointless action scenes, some marginally funny one-liners and some very hollow quasi-intelligent conversations.

The only thing worth mentioning about this movie is that it looks absolutely fantastic. The make-up of the apes is magnificent, and the sets and backgrounds are beautiful too. However, this does not distract from the fact that "Planet of the Apes (2001)" is a very shallow and simplistic movie, filled with paper-thin characters, stupid dialogue and a nearly non-existent plot. Please Hollywood, stop ruining great movies by turning them into senseless blockbusters.

Oh yeah, the ending did not make ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER.

* out of **** stars, mainly for the visuals

Tim Burton's new "Planet of the Apes" is actually a remake--excuse me, a "re-imagining"--of the first TWO movies of the old series. Its occasional paraphrasing of lines from the original movie (devoid of any meaningful context), and its cameos by members of the original cast (Charlton Heston and Linda Harrison), only underscore that this new version isn't what the original was, i.e., an original. Mark Wahlberg, as Our Hero, has none of the cynical, edgy complexity of Heston's Taylor, and is in fact the sort of can-do flyboy Taylor found laughable. Much as I adore Helena Bonham Carter, her turn as Ari, a sultry, sexy, meddling, annoying human-rights activist, is ultimately tiresome, and absolutely incomparable to Kim Hunter's brave, brilliant, impish Zira of the old series. The role is also a criminal waste of Bonham Carter's beauty, hidden as it is behind a bizarre makeup that looks neither ape nor human. Rick Baker's highly-touted ape makeups (which I've enjoyed since the days of "Schlock" and "Kentucky Fried Movie") are highly uneven here. Tim Roth's villainous Thade has the best, with most of the rest being just adequate and no particular improvement over John Chambers' work in the original. And the socko ending (keep reading; I won't spoil it for you) is simply tacked on: unlike the jolting end of the original, it neither ties together nor arises from the movie's earlier action in a way that Explains Everything. Instead, it begs so many questions (mainly "How the heck did THAT happen?") that it seems engineered (or contrived) solely to set the stage for more sequels. All told, this is "Apes Lite," a comic-bookish caricature of the original, made for the short-attention-span crowd. It made me want to do something I hadn't done in ages: fire up the VCR and roll the original again. It's typical of the 1968 movie's gritty, clever irony that the first word of dialogue uttered by an ape--his entire line, in fact--is "Smile."

I remember the first time I watched the classic series for the first time, not too long ago. My initial impression: Shock. I had never before witnessed such a captivated tale. The series kept getting better with each movie. Not long after I found out that Tim Burton was to remake "The Planet of the Apes" and I asked myself, "Why bother?" The original series have hardly aged a bit and are still vastly entertaining to watch. Even though the original is over 30 years old, it doesn't feel like it at all. I felt there was no need for a remake. I saw the new film on opening day, and I have to say I was disappointed. The movie wasn't as shocking as the original. It wasn't as captivating. It wasn't anything like the original. The only thing that seemed to save it was the truly shocking twist ending. It really made me think for a while, but, eventually, I gave up. It didn't make sense to me at all. Then, I decided to throw all my initial thoughts of the film away and decided to go see it again for a second opinion, and, this time, I was blown away. Rarely do I see a film and loathe it only to go see it again and absolutley love it. I didn't compare it to the original as I did the first time, and I think that's the reason I completely hated it the first time around. Tim Burton really did an amazing job creating a whole new world of apes where humans are slaves. The cinematography, the set designs, and just about every technical aspect of the film is a marvel, especially the make up and costume designs. Danny Elfman's score is one of his best, and at times, very frightening. The acting is also top notch, from Wahlberg's subtle but heroic portrayal of Leo, to Roth who is absolutely stunning as General Thade. This has got to be the most impressive movie of the summer, if not the year, easily on par with "Hannibal". Just don't go see it and compare it with the original. My grade: A-

7.5/10 I really appreciate the different approach to the story from Tim Burton's as i really think this Planet Of The Apes remake was pretty good overall, but what lacking the most i think was that because i believe this is a pretty straight forward movie, it happens pretty quickly to the conflict that i felt what lacking the most was the characters development, i do felt in the first half of the movie there is not much of a personality in the characters specifically Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter characters, Thade i found quite annoying instead of terrifying in the first half until at the end i can admit that he was basically a mad ape, and Ari was just not as good of a character or sweet of a character as Dr. Zira in the original even if they didn't want to make her like it, but it's not like i hate the characters, they just flawed characters, and i'm finally fine with them towards the end, including the story which i thought again not as clever as the original but i still really enjoyed it and in fact the best thing about the movie, i like the makeup and the costume design, i like Mark Wahlberg in the film, Tim Burton's Planet Of The Apes remake takes on a very different but still interesting take on the story, flawed but still pretty good overall.