Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Not just a remake of the original, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a reboot of the story of how apes come to rule the planet. It starts as the story of a young scientist named Will Rodman (James Franco) who is trying to develop a new miracle drug to cure Alzheimer’s Disease. Early tests of the drug look promising, but when one of his test chimps goes berserk and rips the lab apart the project is terminated, as are the test apes with the exception of a little chimp Will takes home and raises it himself. Directed by Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist), Rise of the Planet of the Apes manages to take a variety of different movie genres (sci-fi movie, prison film, action flick, message movie) and blend them into a satisfying whole. The well-written script and fast pacing of the film not only keep you from caring about the look of the computer generated chimps, but also keeps you from thinking too much about the implausibility of it all. You just hang on and enjoy the ride.