Rise of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review 199

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 movie starring James Franco, John Lithgow and Brian Cox. It is directed by Rupert Wyatt. It is an addition to the Planet of the Apes series of movies.

The story begins with a scientist called Will Rodman(Franco) who is working on a cure for Alzheimer's. The cure is being tested on chimpanzees. The problem is that the monkeys end up with a high level of intelligence. When one of the chimps goes mad in front of the boss, she is put down along with other monkeys. What they didn't realise is that the chimp was protecting her little baby. Will takes pity on the baby and he takes it home. He names him Caesar(Andy Serkis). Caesar is highly intelligent too as the chemicals have passed into him  from his mother.

Cut to years later and Caesar has grown up. Will has a dad who has Alzheimer's and he is giving him the same cure that he gave the monkeys but it doesn't work so well with humans. His dad gets worse and in his confusion he gets into his neighbours car and he damages it. When the neighbour comes out and shouts at him, Caesar intervenes and hurts him. Will has to send Caesar away to a monkey facility run John Landon(Cox) and his horrible son Dodge(Tom Felton). Dodge mistreats the monkeys and he is basically scum. Caesar wants to go home and he can't forgive Will for leaving him in the hellhole. He begins to communicate with the other monkeys and he eventually gets the huge gorilla Buck on his side. He establishes his dominance over the rest of the inmates and he plans to get out.

So, Will begins working on the cure again and he tests it on another chimp. It makes them even more intelligent than before. But, when one of the scientists accidentally ingests it, he becomes very sick. It is actually fatal to humans. The scientist dies. Will is worried and talks to his boss but his boss want to keep testing so Will leaves his job.Caesar has become extremely intelligent and he manages to get out. He goes to Will's and takes all of the cure that he has. He gives it to all of the other monkeys so they are the same as him.

He kills Dodge and they all escape into the city. They go to the zoo and release more. The police are on their trail and they have to battle with the apes but they are largely unsuccessful. The monkeys make it to a forest where Will follows them. He finds Caesar and he tells him that he can protect him if he comes home. Caesar tells him that he is home. Will is shocked that he can speak. He leaves Caesar and his pals in the forest. Meanwhile, the virus is spreading among humans and they are all going to die...

An entertaining movie with some great scenes. The special effects are very good and Andy Serkis does well as the lead Caesar. I liked it and if you enjoyed the other movies in the series, you will like this one. I will give it a 7/10.