Battle for the Planet of the Apes

This movie had big ambitions:the hero,Ceasar,Cornelius's and Zira's son,has to change the future,like Bruce Willis would have to do a quarter of century later in "twelve monkeys" -no pun intended-.But the results are not up to scratch,by a long shot:the last two sequels are the poorest of a saga which brilliantly began with Shaffner's classic in 1967(adapted from Pierre -Bridge on the river Kwai-Boulle's absorbing book). One should note than the first five minutes are footage from 'escape from...." which tend to reinforce Ceasar's Christlike nature ;and it's even enhanced by John Huston's patriarch "lawgiver" (sic) character. And if we consider there are still two or three minutes of footage of "escape" in the middle of the movie,one realizes "battle" is really short weight.No character on the screen ( in spite of Roddy McDowall) can sustain interest as Taylor,Nova,Cornelius,Zira,Zaius and co used to do. Better watch the first one again and again,and avoid Burton's remake.