RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)

[The Burgomaster]

I didn't have high expectations going in to see this movie, but it ended up being pretty entertaining.  Yeah, they should have spent more time and money polishing the CGI (at times, I felt like I was watching a Donkey Kong game from about 15 years ago), but after about 20 minutes I got over it.  There is nothing "great" about this movie and there is some dialogue that will make you groan.  But overall I thought it was 105 minutes well spent.  I give it around an 80 or 85 on a scale of 0 to 100.   

[Vik]

All of the reviews I've read/watched have been positive, so I'm looking forward to it...
Except for this review (it's pretty funny):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9mUsOqgGvY&feature=channel_video_title

[Kaseykockroach]

I guess it was because the stench of Transformers 3 and Cowboys & Aliens still lurked in my subconcious menacingly, but I enjoyed this. I got what I wanted, a big epic monkey rampage. Except here, little to no wretched comic relief, hideously unlikeable characters, etc.
It's ungodly stupid, but it's certainly a likeable kind. It's worth it for the last half-hour.

[Vik]

Ignoring the superfluity of dull human characters, I thought it was quite good.

[Rev. Powell]

It's actually pretty good.  4/5. 

[Vik]

I'm not sure why people are calling it an intelligent film, though. I didn't thinkt that that was the case at all. For example, it clearly doesn't understand the difference between knowledge and intelligence.

[Neville]

I wouldn't call it "intelligent". Just "well made", which is enough of a rarity these days. I think it's really worth watching, they really took their time to flesh out Caesar's evolving relationship with mankind, and there are tons of great moments, such as the time Caesar spends in an animal refuge, which aptly reminds of a prison flick, or the action bits towards the end.

Cons? Well, I just don't believe they wanted to tell the ape rebellion on a PG-13 film. It needed more casualties and a more apocaliptic tone that is barely hinted in the final image of the film. I think "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" did better in this sense, despite of its shortcomings.

[JaseSF]

I thought it was very, very good. One could criticize I suppose for not sticking strictly to the old established continuity but I'm not sure if that would have been even possible as in essence even the old films didn't really succeed on those terms. It is to me largely like a reverse take on the original Planet of the Apes (1968) which was a rather interesting approach to take a good way to giving a nod or two to the fans of the classic. It's also quite a bit like Conquest of the Planet of the Apes but continuity wise, not that it's anything set in stone in the series anyways, here would seem to predate that being more like the first sign of apes gaining greater intelligence. I think though it did feature strong acting from all the important lead characters and like most Apes films to proceed uses sci-fi to delve into real life issues as to humanity and how we treat animals and each other amongst other themes.

[tracy]

We saw this...finally....at a local discount theater last night and I liked it a lot. Even though they changed a couple of things I thought it all worked well.