Planet of the Apes

Rating:
Summary: aside from the ending it's almost unwatchable
Review: This is the remake of the original Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston (Heston's does a short cameo in this one). A space Air Force pilot training apes to fly space ships gets stranded in the future on a planet ruled by evolved apes. With the help of a few sympathetic apes, the pilot escapes capture and leads a rag-tag group of humans to freedom. If this terrible film has any redeeming qualities, they'd have to be the monkey costumes and the ending. The rest of the movie was [thin]: the dialogue, acting, and plot, while comparably stupid as that of the original film, fail completely to accomplish anything other than a ... rehash.

Rating:
Summary: Guilty By Association
Review: What makes filmakers want to rework/adapt an already classic film? The need for a sure hit? A renewed cinematic reinterpretation? or as is the case of Tim Burton, as I suspect, a long life dream to pay hommage to a book/ film he greatly admires?
No matter what the reason is, it is surely a venture wrought with difficulties from the start. How many adaptations or remakes have succeeded more than the original? very few, even the ones that are adapted from a foreign film, and as a result don't have popular recognition, have invariably failed to capture the originality or power of the first film, whether the adaptation/remake is copied frame by frame,(Assasins, Vanilla Sky, Birdcage etc...) or 'inspired by'.
The original Planet of the Apes was certainly a classic masterpiece..A beautiful piece of moviemaking that has a lot to offer than mere entertainment.The film has has such an impact on audiences, and spawned many sequels and a TV series, that to remake it, even by an able and creative director like Tim Burton, will whether it is an actual remake or a different adaptation of Boulle's classic book, it will be associated with the original.
I could not watch this new version without thinking of the original, and this is why I did not appreciate it so much.
The casting is very good, and Walhberg is indeed a good actor, but Estella Warren was somehow miscast as the beautiful female 'savage' turned Walhberg side-kick.She is too distractingly beautiful and fresh to be her intended character, and I expected her, whenever she was in a close up to advertise for some shampoo or beauty product.
The make up is great though, and the DVD is packed with extras.
Yet something remains missing from the film. The sheer power and philosophical undertones, the harshness and apocalyptic atmosphere of the first.
Although Burton's ending of his film is quite clever, it remains somehow a bit polished to have the same power as the scene that confronted Heston and with him the viewers in the first Planet of Apes.
You can certainly still enjoy this film, only if you manage not to think of the original Planet of the Apes, something I found very hard to do, and for that reason I was disappointed, and hope that Hollywood, the movie industry and film makers would rethink their strategy and method whenever they remake or adapt a film that is a classic.(Dr Zhivago was recently remade for British TV and flopped instantly!)..and remember it is indeed extremely hard task.

Rating:
Summary: Okay for first-time viewers, not so good for classic fans
Review: I saw the original Planet of the Apes as a child, so I was pretty geared up to see this one. While I won't say that I didn't enjoy it, if you're a fan of the classic film, then you might want to stick with that and give this one a pass. For one thing, Mark Wahlberg was okay as Captain Leo Davidson, but he could have done so much more with the part. His previous role as Bobby Shatford in The Perfect Storm proved he can act, but in this movie he was so stiff and wooden that someone could have slapped him and it wouldn't have had any effect. Helena Bonham Carter did all right as Ari, and Michael Clarke Duncan was terrific as Attar, but other than Charlton Heston's uncredited cameo as the father of General Thade and Kris Kristofferson as Daena's father, most of the acting in this movie just left me cold.

My major issue with this film lies not with Tim Burton's directing--Semos knows that Burton can make a fairly decent movie every now and then, and the story in this one was okay--but with the ending. It just came off as too contrived and hokey, and it really didn't strike me as a good way to open things up for a sequel.

In the end, I'll just say what I did at the start--if you're a newbie to the Planet of the Apes films, then go ahead and watch this one, but if you're a fan of the classic Apes movies, then pass this one up.

Rating:
Summary: Good Movie, Bad Ending
Review: I thought this movie wasn't bad, but I thought it could have been better. I mean, Tim Burton is much more talented than that, and could have put more money into it too. IF your going to remake an old movie, then make it just as great as it would have been make when it first came out. And the ending was down right stupid!!

Rating:
Summary: It's a madhouse!! A madhouse!! No, not really.
Review: This film was bad because there was nothing interesting about it. It was sort of a remake but then again, not really. I was very disappointed considering the tools that Tim Burton has at his disposal. He had great make up and CGI available and lots of money ($100 million) but can you honestly say that what we got was as good as the original film that was made for less than $6 million? Heck no. So in that regard, the film fails.

At least in the original film, the statue of liberty scene was shocking but there was nothing shocking in this film even the end scene because you could kind of see it coming. And, by the way, if you give it some thought, and I did, you can figure out how the ending could come about. I just wish I had back the time that I wasted thinking about it.

This film would have been brilliant and fun if it stayed along the lines of the first film and adopted part of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". Here's how I would have written it:

An astronaut (it really should have been more than Marky Mark because he's not good enough to care a film all by himself so I would have put in three guys) that would land on what they would think would be another planet, encounter humans (not mutes), a city ruled by apes, were hunted, made friends with some good apes, discover that they're on earth via finding some destroyed ruins, end up running into crazy mutant humans living beneath the earth, a war breaks out between the mutant humans and the apes, and then....well, let your imagination run wild on how you want to end it.

But my point is that there could have been so much more to this film. Sadly, Tim Burton really knows how to wreck a good thing. Consider what he did with the Batman series. He's a rotten director inspite what of people think. He's trendy so he must be good goes the thinking. Sorry, but no. If anyone else had done this film, it would have turned out far better and would have been far more satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: Not what people expect but good nevertheless.
Review: This is not a narrative - thats what people don't understand. Its a social commentary that happens to be in the form of a feature film, and happens to be loosely based on a classic science fantasy film. When you look at it in that regard it is very good, but you can't expect a concrete narrative. The big problem this movie has is not so much with the movie itself, but with the director. Don't get me wrong - Tim Burton is an exceedingly talented director, but this film just seems as though, in many scenes, it could have been made by anyone. There are just too many scene's that don't have his visual flair, and uniqueness. Its like getting a movie that is only 80% Burton. But the 80% we do get is pure magic, and to anyone interested in animal rights this movie is all the more special.

Rating:
Summary: Watch the original instead
Review: This movie was predictable. The ending was predictable. Why redo a classic with all of the bombs that could be redone/reworked. If you love the original, don't waste your time with this one. This movie is proof that expensive special effects wont make a classic movie better.

Rating:
Summary: Does no one else find a guy kissing an ape disturbing?!
Review: In my opinion, the only good thing about this film was it showed how much costume and make-up have progressed since the 60's - not at all.

The plot does actually have some, *some*, potential; that apes are humans in an 'Animal Farm' sense. However the director shows an almost completely one sided veiw of the human (the un-attractive Mark Wahlberg) so it just WASN'T INTERESTING.

The acting is terrible and half-hearted, like the 'big' names are blushing beneath thier make-up at having to run around like a monkey.

And it IS disturbing!! Please someone agree with me that it's disturbing!!

Rating:
Summary: Planet of the Apes with Mark Walhberg
Review: The new release had an absolutely horrible ending that made no sense. But the ORIGINAL movies were incredible!

Rating:
Summary: Pale imitation of a great movie
Review: I had high expectations for this movie. This movie really was a real dissapointment. The original was so much better on so many levels. The original was a tale of modern man, disguised by its science fiction elements. This turkey is just another mindless action movie. I can see why "the Arnold" was interested in making this movie first. The acting was bad, direction pedestrian, story illogical (HUGE plotholes),the ending looked like it was a band-aid attempt to fix what the movie makers knew was a bad movie. Marky Mark should go back to rapping if this is the best he can do. He has the personality of a piece of wood. The special effects were pretty good. If they had only spent as much time on the story and found an actor to replace Marky Mark.