Draco Malfoy’s magic can’t save him from apes

To be honest when I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought they were simply rehashing an old IP and it was going to be lame. You know, like Scream 4. I’m happy to report this wasn’t the case at all, it was brilliantly directed and apes attacking douchebag Tom Felton was pretty fun to watch.

The idea of casting James Franco for the main (human) character seems a bit far-fetched considering he doesn’t “look” smart (even though he got masters degrees from 2 universities in real life), and I’d have to say at times his emotion looked forced. Attachment to a monkey is no normal matter though and they made an interesting bond, even when it soured Caesar still showed respect for the person who brought him up.

Additionally the action scenes with the apes were pretty cool. It’s definitely worth my movie ticket to see apes assault humans by outsmarting them. Using visual clues to find the company that “enslaved” them led up to a thrilling conclusion with one of the recently tested apes not giving the CEO a chance to live, instead pushing his shredded helicopter into the abyss of the SF bay. The two speaking parts were also brilliant, contrary to a rumored article in which the one spoken word would be “bananas”. Believe everything you see on the Internet folks.

Even the minor characters were impressive. The turnaround of the pharmaceutical CEO from disinterest to dollar signs; transition of John Lithgow’s character, who had the temporary cure but seemed spot on with his onset Alzheimer’s (the mustang scene seemed like a moment from documentary I saw on a man’s father who had Alzheimer’s and progressively forgot how to do basic things or what he owned), and the small C-story of the man who was contaminated but couldn’t speak up in time.

Oh, and I played a cameo role as a fatass circus orangutan.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes **Verdict: **✓