This Apes is the beginning of more

MANILA, Philippines - There are several things that easily come to mind when the name Caesar is mentioned. Caesar is salad or caesarian section or a Roman emperor, Julius or Augustus or the dog whisperer. Now thanks to a compelling performance by actor Andy Serkis, who also acted for Gollum in Lord of the Rings, you can now add ape to that list. Ape as in Caesar, the motion capture figure in the motion picture The Rise of Planet of the Apes. He is a very special simian with more brains and humanity inside him than can be found in most, okay, I’ll be kind, in some people.

Caesar is one of the main characters in the latest addition to the movie franchise that started with the Charlton Heston starrer Planet of the Apes in 1968. That was some years before Star Wars happened and decades before Lord of the Rings came about. Apes was actually the original franchise title but lost its market appeal due to inferior sequels, there were probably four and even a TV series and animated version that did not work. After those, it was logical to think that the flawed re-imagining by Tim Burton 10 years ago drove the last nail on the Apes coffin. But no, the franchise is back with a new origin story, anchored not on the nuclear holocaust of old but on genetic engineering.

Caesar is, in some ways, a product of that. He was conceived in a lab where apes were being used in experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Orphaned after his mother went berserk and had to be shot, he is adopted by scientist Will Rodman (James Franco). Maybe it was because of the different drugs administered to his mother or to the nurturing relationship he has with Will and Will’s father Charles (John Lithgow) or some other reason, Caesar turned out different. He grew up smart, extremely smart as in enough to be able to later get apedom to rise up against being enslaved and subjected to abuses by humans. 

Because of the story it was based on, a French sci-fi novel La Planete des Singes, every Apes movie has chunks of racial conflict, animal rights activism, questionable scientific developments and man’s uneasy relationship with nature in its plot. None of these denote a pretty picture these days. These are all present in The Rise of Planet of the Apes but you only get them when you sit down and think after watching the movie. These are never above the story. Director Rupert Wyatt came up with an entertaining film. This Apes is good.

 What the audience sees is a great script that moves smoothly with lots of action and heart tugs and fantastic CGI and motion capture work in the expressive apes. Watch their eyes. The ending to the first Planet of the Apes still gives me the creeps but while Wyatt is able to communicate the same undertones of fear in this one, he keeps an upbeat mood throughout the picture. The result makes for truly enjoyable viewing for everybody.

 I guess this Apes is a winner because Wyatt worked on a clean slate. Everything is new and intended to be the beginning of more. Watch out for the sequels. He did toy around with references to the early films. Remember the floating head of the Statue of Liberty in the first? But he also came up with some new tricks as in if King Kong had the Empire State Building, his Caesar got the Golden Gate Bridge. Great gimmick if they do a Caesar action figure.

Lithgow, as always is excellent and Tom Felton, Potter’s best bully Malfoy is certainly the right kid to spark an apes revolution. I agree there was not much for Freida Pinto to do other than look lovely and James can certainly use demanding stuff after this. But this is really Caesar’s story and he is one well-written character that everybody could empathize with. Everything else though most especially the build-up to the ending is well-put together and exciting.

Overall feel for me is that I am glad that The Planet of the Apes is back and it is on the right track. I hope it stays on that. And goody-goody, it is not on 3D! The producers probably thought it will not be any good and will not make money, so why waste the 3D. Bliss for us, no awkward, uncomfortable glasses while watching. Enjoy.

(Now showing, The Rise of Planet of the Apes grossed P31.7-M on its four-day weekend.)