Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

If there's one thing sci-fi fans know, it's that experimenting on animal's brains never ends well. James Franco's scientist Will Rodman is about to discover that for himself. Rodman has made a breakthrough; the serum he hopes will bring an end to Alzheimer's has generated some fantastic results in a female chimp - Bright Eyes (the first of many subtle homages to Heston's classic.) But before he can finish his presentation to a group of influential investors, Bright Eyes escapes and rampages through the lab before being shot and killed. Rodman is told to go back to the drawing board and, fearing all the lab chimps have been contaminated by the serum, his boss orders their destruction.
But in Bright Eye's cage a discovery is made, the chimp had given birth and had only been trying to defend her infant. Fearing it too will be put down, Rodman smuggles the infant chimpanzee out of the lab and back to his home where he lives with his father Charles, superbly played by John Lithgow, who is succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimer's. Within days it's obvious there is something very different about this tiny chimp, it can feed itself and seems much more aware of its surroundings.
Jumping forward three years and Caesar, portrayed by Andy Serkis, is growing physically and mentally. He can communicate through sign language and his IQ is increasing daily. Meanwhile Rodman's father has continued to deteriorate and in a last ditch attempt to help him he injects him with his experimental serum. There is an immediate improvement and Rodman feels vindicated that the treatment does work.
For the last few years Caesar has looked out of his bedroom window and watched children playing in the street and he longs to join them. But after he is set upon and injured by a neighbour, Rodman is told by a vet that Caesar needs fresh air, to get out and stretch his legs.
And so Caesar gets his first taste of the forest, as he is taken across the Golden Gate Bridge to run through the redwoods of Muir Woods national park.
Jump forward two more years and Caesar's mental capacity has continued to grow exponentially. Charles's condition has returned, his body is fighting the treatment. Caesar meanwhile is becoming self-aware and demands to know his origins. Rodman takes him to the lab where he was born and explains his mother died and that he is now his father.
Boyed by the serum's earlier success and determined to help his father, Rodman confides in his boss that he has been trialling the drug on Charles. He tells him that not only did the Alzhiemer's symptoms vanish, but Charles actually showed signs of improved intelligence. He believes he has developed a 'virus' which would halt the anti-bodies and allow the drug to do its job. Rodman is given immediate approval to begin experimenting on chimps again, and there are immediate results with a chimp called Jacob. But during Jacob's treatment with the drug there is an accident in the lab and one of the technicians is exposed to the gas.
Charles continues to ail and one day wanders outside and jumps into the neighbour's car, forgetting that he's not allowed to drive anymore. An argument ensues and Caesar, seeing that Charles is being threatened attacks the neighbour in his defence.
The police are called and Caesar is taken to an animal control centre where he is put in an enclosure where, for the first time, he mixes with other chimps, orang-utan and a gorilla, which is permanently locked away from the others.
Here he is at the mercy of Dodge Landon, played by Harry Potter's Tom Landon, who enjoys tormenting these beautiful animals. Caesar finds an ally in a circus orang-utan which has also been taught to sign. He sees chimps being removed from the compound to be sent to Rodman's lab and decides to take a stand against the humans. There is a delicious moment when, having refused to go back in to his cage, Caesar is attacked by Landon with a cattle prod. As he swings at the chimp Caesar catches his arm and Landon shouts "Get your stinking paw off me you damned dirty ape" There is a pause, and many knowing chortles from the audience, before the scene is turned on its head when Caesar replies "No!"
This final portion of the film offers some of the best CGI I've seen in a long time. The apes are amazingly lifelike, their movements and facial expressions superbly captured and I'll admit to sheading a tear when the beautiful silverback is slaughtered by police.
I found myself rooting for the ragtag band of creatures as they made their way across San Francisco, desperately trying to get to the redwoods and freedom from humanity. James Franco is the only weak link in the film, but then I've always found him pretty one dimensional (he has one expression for every emotion.)
For a 'prequel' this is excellent and it's a fantastic addition to the Apes mythology. Naturally the ending leaves things open for a sequel which, given the film's opening weekend success, is pretty much a given.