Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Yesterday I took the day off from work and hung out with my oldest daughter at our local mall for the day.  I actually do this with both of my kids every year on the day before their birthday as it's my last chance to hang out with them before they get another year older.

Anyway, after snacking on a lot of tasty food and enjoying a great lunch, we decided to check out the new film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  The movie was fantastic, and other than a jerk using his cell phone two rows in front of me, we had a pretty great time.

Like the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes this film is a reboot of the classic '60s series and both films were really fascinating.

The second film takes place ten-years after the first, and the apes (led by the first film's protagonist, Caesar), have created a society of their own while humanity has largely been decimated (actually much higher than 1 in 10) due to a virus which was contracted shortly after the first film, leaving civilization behind and forcing humanity to live in small settlements again, cut off from each other and striving to survive as their world shuts down against them.

The best part of the film for me was the apes, both in terms of special effects and in terms of story, seeing how they have changed since the first film was fascinating and many of the films emotional high points happened to the apes, rather than the humans.

A great film, and well worth the watch.

Genre Character of the Week: Caesar

Yesterday I went down to my local library and picked up my latest hold, the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and brought it home to watch with my wife and kids.

First off a really quick review - the movie was fun, engaging and the effects were surprisingly good.

Next, on to our genre character: Caesar.

The movie is basically Caesar's life story, from birth through to a decision which will end up spelling the end of humankind (or at least the end of us as dominant species on Earth), and considering that the movie is being made for a human audience, the special effects folks and especially actor Andy Serkis deliver a character that gets you feeling incredible sympathy and empathy for.

Effectively being raised in a single-parent home, Caesar lives with his "father" and "grandfather" (Played by James Franco and John Lithgow) and through all his years he comes off as an incredibly smart, inquisitive and loving chimp.

The problem comes down in the second act when he is removed from his home and put in a primate care facility with some less-than-great humans. Caesar works to understand his new world, but eventually he starts making some connections that will start a whole new world for ape-kind and pretty much bring and end to humankind.

The movie was really great, the characters engaging and if there were a sequel, I would definitely check it out.

Things I’ve Noticed: The 2011 Remakes are tempting me

When it comes to genre films, reboots come with the territory. In fact, one of my favourite horror films The Thing (1982) was a remake of a 1951 movie, The Thing From Another World. This year there are not one or two, but five remakes I'm looking forward to seeing in theatres.

There are four in August; Conan The Barbarian, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Fright Night, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes and then in October a prequel for The Thing. Personally I'm a pretty big fan of the originals of all of these (except for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which I've never seen but my BFF Mike has at least twice) so on paper the idea of remaking two films from the '70s and three films from the '80s seems a little stranger to me.

Personally I've always been a purist on classic versions of films (I'll go much deeper into this in my upcomming string of October posts - The Reimaging of Bookmonkery), so it would take a pretty big reason for me to even be considering checking these films out in theatres.

Here's why I'm probably going to check these movies out anyway:

Conan The Barbarian) I am really a huge fan of all things Conan (little known secret, my father's first choice for my name was Conan) so even though I was severely disappointed in the director's previous film Friday The Thirteenth (Which will become a post of its own in October), I honestly will have to check out the newest interpretation of my favourite barbarian.

Don't be Afraid of the Dark) is co-written by Guillermo Del Toro, author of The Strain series and director of any number of movies I love.

Fright Night) David Tennant is going to co-star, and darn it I loved him in Doctor Who.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes) looks really, really cool. Also after seeing pretty much every film starring James Franco from Freaks and Geeks forward, I'm interested to see how he does in a Science Fiction film.

The Thing) Honstly, when it comes to The Thing, it was already a remake, so a prequel is just continuing in the tradition of the 1982 film, and who am I to argue with tradition?