Planet of the Apes

As much as I wanted to like this movie because I was such a fan of the original 1968 sci-fi classic I just couldn't. This was bad on so many levels that even the updated special effects and makeup couldn't save it. Charlton Heston's cameo was probably the best part "damn them all to hell!" So what we have here is Tim Burton reimagining the classic story with mixed results. It is visually stunning and Mark Wahlberg does the best he can as Astronaut Leo Davidson, who takes an abrupt detour while on a routine reconnaissance mission in 2029, landing him on a strange planet where talking apes rule with an iron fist over a race of primitive humans. Helena Bonham Carter plays the sympathetic chimpanzee activist in this version with Tim Roth as General Thade, the leader of the gorilla army. A lotta horses in this movie and a dumb, drawn out final battle. All this did was make me want to watch the original again.08.13

I remember seeing this movie in theaters, almost 20 years ago. And the more time passes by, one thing becomes ever clearer - this should've been a landmark, an industry defining movie. Its mask work is absolutely brilliant triumph of practical effects, that is STILL absolutely unrivaled and superior to any CGI. Sadly, the revolution did not happen. Instead of recognizing what can be done with classical "make up" techniques, the movie industry collectively indulged into artificial image manipulation, to its utter detriment.

I read somewhere that Hollywood should concentrate on remaking bad movies and leave the classics alone. We can only hope. While this remake wasn't a total waste, I still wish I had the six bucks back to go toward a DVD of the original. Lots of violence and one of the worst endings I've ever seen. This version doesn't add anything new. It only reiterates why Hollywood should leave the good stuff alone.

For it's era, I thought the original was fab, and eagerly anticipated this remake, thinking that Tim Burton had huge scope for improvement with the technology now available. I was left feeling rather flat. I found Ari's belief that apes and humans could all live together in harmony rather syrupy. A good cast was wasted under undeniably impressive costumes. Although I did think the costumes too 'human'. The much-hyped surprise ending was a huge let-down. I did think it was ending very well, right up until the last couple of minutes and all I can say about that is 'Eh??'(Yes, I 'get' the idea, but cannot figure the time scale).

I went to see this film with great expectation. I loved the original series of films, and I expecting this to be just as good if not better, and it was! It's hard to say if it was better, I'd say, they are almost on different grounds, due to the Special FX we had in the 60's and the stuff we got now. So that changes a lot, but it's not just the FX, the story is great, it keeps you guessing, and near the end, you just..don't know what to expect, I didn't and I read about the ending on the net anyway. This was defiantly a "Re-Imagining" not a "Re-make" This is so different than the first. In fact, I don't even know what the heck the ending was about, was it earth, was it another planet...I swear, you think about the ending to this movie for more than 5 minutes, your head will explode. But all I can say is, this movie rocks, great acting, awesome story, sweet plot, I'm just stoked for the sequel!