Planet of the Apes

Rating:
Summary: Tim Burton's version of Planet of the Apes rocks!
Review: This movie is not a sequel, and not a remake. Planet of the Apes is an independent story, created from a classic concept of 'What if we were out evolved?' and put into Tim Burton's hands to twist into art. Do not go into the theater expecting anything but a movie about apes vs. humans. If you expect anything but that, you will be sorely disappointed.

The movie starts with Capt. Leo Davidson training a monkey, Pericles, to fly. An enigmatic magnetic forcefield arrives, somehow the monkey gets lost, Leo goes after him, and lands right in the middle of a round-up of humans on the apes' planet.

There, you have the start. You can imagine what happens throughout most of the movie. The ending is ingenious, but unfortunately, it is almost like two endings, one a good, justifiable ending, the other to leave room for a sequel that I, personally, think is unnecessary.

The element of this movie that makes it 'good' is not the realistic characters, the plausible concept, the accuracy of ape looks and behaviors, the stellar performances, the decent plot, or the twist ending. It is the fact that it makes you think 'What if?' long after you leave the movie theater.

Enjoy Tim's take on Planet of the Apes!

Rating:
Summary: A Re-Visioning with some added kick
Review: Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes re-visioning was one of my highest anticipation movies of the summer. The movie uses the old "what if" question to show a dark world in which humans are the lesser inhabitant of the planet.

Planet of the Apes has several good points worth mentioning. The highest of which, for me, was the ape interactions with one another. Burton builds a real sense of ape society with countless nuisances in the behavior between ape characters. This combined with the amazing special effects work makes a very believable environment. While some may criticize the "leaping" actions of many of the apes I think it serves to better define their personalities.

Tim Roth gives an absolutely amazing performance. While is guttural accent may take a few minutes to get used to, he carries the scripted part of General Thade to its maximum potential. His body movement pure physical presence is also incredible. Helena Bonham Carter also gives an equally good performance for many of the same reasons. The way the apes can show a variety of emotions through all the make-up is wonderful.

Danny Elfman is also to be credited for an excellent musical score. The music seems to carry the movie at times and I never found a scene lacking in the sound department. And finally, I'm a sucker for cameos and for Charlton Heston, so their added appearance was enough to make the movie for me.

On the downside, the movie does suffer a number of drawbacks, mainly from the scripting department. I believe Mark Wahlberg to be an accomplished actor (i.e. the Corruptor), however, his role as Major Leo Davidson is lacking. Wahlberg acts the part to the fullest but there is just not much there to work with. Davidson is a poor hero for the story and should have been written better (perhaps with more dialog scenes).

While I believe there were no badly acted parts (within the narrow confines of the script) Estella Warren might has well been a mute. Her part in the story might have been more interesting had seen some kind of dialog with Carter as opposed to just shooting her dirty looks for the duration of the film.

And finally the plot of the movie is thin in places, with holes large enough to drive space stations through. If you go into the movie just wanting to have fun, you can. But don't except the plot to be concrete (i.e. where did they get the horses!). The ending can be considered almost totally separate from the movie and I believe was Burton's attempt at making a platform from which to launch a second movie. ("Just put it in there, I'll worry about explaining it later")

All it all, the movie was fun. I would highly recommend watching it with an open mind and positive attitude. If you want to see a total remake of the first movie, see something else, but otherwise enjoy Burton's dark world of alternate futures.

Rating:
Summary: NOT Tim Burton's Best Work!
Review: I went in to see this movie, expecting a spectacular Tim Burton version of "Planet Of The Apes" with his unique signature, and to my suprise, I'm disappointed. Most of the movie was great. The make-up, the acting, the special effects with the apes jumping through the air, the elaborate sets, (especially the scarcrows marking the forbidden place; definate Tim Burton signature!) etc. The ending, however, screwed the whole thing up! It made absolutely no sense! (Unless he's going to do a sequel explaining the ending.) I won't spoil it for you, but my advice is you can wait till it comes out on DVD/VHS and rent it cheaper than going to the theater, paying $5-$8 bucks, and come out more disappointed than amazed. For the time being, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and Sleepy Hollow are going to remain Tim's best work to-date.

Rating:
Summary: Great Summer Movie
Review: I wasn't expecting much from this movie from all the negative reviews, but I walked out of the theatre having really had a good time. The only thing missing from this movie which prevented it from being truly as great as the original was the ability to make people think about social issues. Although this movie did poke at a few of the problems in the world, it did not follow through with any of them. However, as a summer movie, it is great...the action and suspense was terrific and there was also a lot of comedy which was really appreciated. Go see it to have fun and not to have it live up to the greatness of the first. Experience it as a stand alone popcorn movie.

Rating:
Summary: a great "re-imagining"
Review: I'm sorry, but the original version of "Planet of the Apes" is hilarious. Sure, it might have "political undertones," being released in 1968, at the height of Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. But, viewing the film today, it's laughable. The ape make-up and Heston's acting--"Get your stinking hands off me, you damned dirty apes,"--overshadow whatever good intentions the screenwriters--working off Pierre Boulle's novel--and director Franklin Schaffner had. I can't believe these apes won the Oscar over the apes from Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Now that is a classic that is like a fine wine--it grows better with age. The original "Planet of the Apes" is more like cheese--the longer you let it sit, the worse it gets.

Tim Burton's re-imaginging of the film is incredible. Sure, he maintains some of the humor and the political and racial undertones of the original--he even throws in several homages, espcially in the casting of Heston as an ape and the girl who played Nova as a woman in the cage next to Wahlberg--but he's turned "Apes" into what it truly needs to be--a summer blockbuster full of action and artistic vision.

A lot of people try to raise the original above its fate as a camp classic, citing its deep insight into evolution and racism and politics, but you know what? The original is a joke. It's a glorified "Star Trek" episode, dragged out to feature-film length. The special effects are bad, the make-up on the apes are bad, and the whole thing is bad--save for the shocking ending. The ending of the original is awesome, a cinematic scene as classic as Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing up in "The Seven Year Itch."

Burton's "Planet of the Apes," I think, is a lot deeper than the original. It's not trying to be the great commentary on society that the original was, but I feel it achieves and even greater insight--that on religion.

If you've seen it once, and you're there, trying to compare it to the original, go see it again. Burton and the screenwriters have slipped in a subplot that I feel will be ignored. The apes, especially Attar--played by Michael Clarke Duncan of "The Green Mile" fame--don't allow anyone to cross into the "Forbidden Zone," the area that explains where they came from.

In the original, the "Forbidden Zone," was where Charlton's astronaut and Nova found the half-buried Statue of Liberty. In Burton's film, the "Forbidden Zone" is forbidden because it is mythology. The apes believe in an ape-like God from which all apes were created. I'm not going to give too much away, but it shows the blindness that religion creates in people--or apes. Mythology permeates the entire basis of the apes' views. We know its mythology, and we, the viewer, might even scoff at how foolish their beliefs are. You know why? Because we have the beautiful gift of a backstory--what happened to Mark Wahlberg and the ship from which he originated. We, as humans, don't have that luxory.

This film is great. The more I think about it, it's even brilliant. The only criticism I have is that I think Tim Burton holds a little too much visual respect for the original and doesn't display his own style--such as he did with what I think of as the penultimate Burton film, "Sleepy Hollow." That said, I think the movie's incredible.

Rating:
Summary: i really liked it
Review: Overall I'm not familiar with Tim Burton's movies, or any directors for that matter. But I like a movie for the content and this was a really kewl movie! Mark Whalberg did an excellent job as Leo Davidson, and didn't even have to live up to Charlton Heston. This movie has an entirely different plot then the original, so it can't even be qualified as a remake, just another movie with the same characters(apes). I think it was a really great movie.. not just because all the other ones this summer bombed, just because it IS a really kewl movie. You should all go see it :)!!!

Rating:
Summary: A big budget couldn't save this one from failure
Review: A storyline set outside the old Apes movies, this one's a stand alone movie. Mark Wahlberg, an astronaught, crashes on an unknown planet after going through some sort of space storm. He's gone hundreds of years into the future into a different part of the universe. Soon he finds that there are humans on this planet, but their not the dominant species they were on earth.

I had some doubts going into this movie, but I was hoping to be proved wrong. Sadly I was not. It's not bad in terms of the overall series but the original, with a much smaller budget and less technology, defeated this one hands down. Who's to blame? Burton's directing and Wahlberg's acting were certainly not. The screen writer is to blame in writing a very corny, slow, and downright idiotic movie. While there was some decent action, some interesting back story, the movie seemed to drag along after about a half an hour. Some scenes just didn't even make sense. In one scene, when Wahlberg and his compatriots are attempting to cross a river through an army encampment ahead of them, the soldiers all leave their horses in front of the base unprotected. Guess what happens in the next scene? Also apes are afraid of water because they cannot swim. They won't even go ankle deep which makes the human escape across the river with the hijacked horses even easier. Lame. Want more? Turn away if you don't want to know more scenes but these aren't really spoilers by any means. A very annoying young kid pops up throughout the movie wanting to help and not be treated like a kid. He is vocal about this any chance he can be, though this isn't that bad, towards the big final battle scene he decides to go to the front of the line. They are going to retreat and draw the apes in. Guess when happens when they start running back? He falls of his horse and must be saved by Wahlberg at the LAST second. That one was the worst for me. If the movie had been better, scenes like that could have been overlooked. But their were just too many scenes that ... for being so unrealistic and downright annoying. Combine that with a slow, somewhat boring, pace and you've got a bad movie.

Burton has always been known for bringing a dark aspect to to his movies, Nightmare Before Christmas Edward Scissorhands, but this was not what you wanted in a Planet of the Apes movie. Still I attribute some of the slow pace to him, but not all of it. At first I thought Wahlberg might bring a different dimension to the movie, he is far from a Heston type actor, but scenes where he could act were limited. His character just didn't fit the movie. He wasn't the imposing presence that stood for humanities determination like Heston. I was hoping he could pull off something different than Heston but still pleasing to the "humans are the best" thoughts going through my head. Wahlberg is a good actor but this just wasn't the part for him, same for

Burton and his directing. This could have been so much better, honestly Jurassic Park 3(released a week earlier in theatres and Apes main competitor) beat this. And that's saying a lot because I didn't think the Jurassic movie was great, but compared to Planet of the Apes it was much funner to watch. The last scene will either be great, or another one of those annoying scenes I was discussing with you before. Personally I found it to be ok, I like nostalgia.

But the movie overall? Just plain disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Yikes
Review: This was not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. It comes nowhere close to being as good as the original. I won't even get into the ending because it's just too ridiculous. The make up was very good, every now and then there was some nice camera work, but with such a weak story and no character development whatsoever, it didn't matter. Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Planet of the Dull
Review: Despite reading some largely negative reviews before seeing this movie, I was hoping for the best, being both a Tim Burton fan and a fan of the original movie. However, this movie committed the cardinal sin--for most of the two hour running time, I found what I was seeing on screen extremely dull. The actors portraying the apes (Tim Roth, Helena Bonham carter, etc.) do a great job, but overall the characters are not very interesting. Not an adept action movie, no characters to care about, so I really don't know what there is to recommend about it. As for the much-discussed ending, I can't think of any combination of events that could explain it, so I chalk it up for what it is--a stunt and a setup for a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Best Movie Ever!!!!!!!
Review: This Was The Best Movie I have Ever Seen,It has a very different storyline compared to the original.If you want to see an excellet movie watch 'Planet of the Apes',and if you want more,watch the origal 5 movies.You won't be disapointed.