“Planet of the Apes” (1968) is one of my favorite movies. Sadly it was succeeded by four sequels that were either only watchable, or just downright awful. In 2001, Tim Burton decided to remake the classic and it turned out even worse than the ones from the seventies. When I saw the first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I couldn’t believe another entry was going to befoul the legacy of the original, and my interest in the seeing the movie was zero. A second trailer was released and it focused more on the characters and story, and less on the action of the first trailer. My interest was piqued and no one was more surprised than me when I actually walked out of the theater having enjoyed “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

The lead character, Caesar, played by Andy Serkis, should only do the motion-capture of the CG characters he portrays. He’s at his best when his motion-capture performance is blended with amazing special effects. There’s a great attention to detail, particularly around the eyes. There’s also a near seamless integration of the computerized character with his environment and the people around him. As a result of the blending of Serkis and great CG, Caesar fit easily into the heart of the story and his interactions with humans and other apes were quite touching at times. Though the larger plot is often glossed over for brevity’s sake, you spend a good amount of time watching Caesar grow and learn what it is to be a man.

I’m not sure where the actor ends and the CG begins, but Serkis gives the most compelling and interesting performance in the movie by a long shot. The human actors that surround him are much less interesting. Though no one gives a downright terrible performance in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” I found myself wanting the human-only scenes to be over much more quickly. Make no mistake, the apes steal the show, much like they do the planet.

Though the bulk of it comes at the end, Rise of the Planet of the Apes has its fair share of action as well. Most of that comes from apes running amok on the streets of San Francisco, bashing through windows, and overturning cars. I know gorillas are incredibly strong, but I doubt they have the ability to rip a parking meter right out of the concrete. All of this rioting climaxes on the Golden Gate Bridge where the apes face off with the police and climb the tension wires ala Donkey Kong Jr.

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is a fun and touching ride. It is arguably the best Planet of the Apes movie to date because it hits emotional marks that the previous entries did not come anywhere close to touching. However, I would consider “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” a standalone movie from the rest of the series. Aside from a several nods to the original movies, its plot and characters have nothing to do with them and this one does not bridge any gap in the timeline. If you’re like myself and you’re a fan of the original, this movie is definitely worth a look. If you’re on the fence about watching this because you happened to see “Planet of the Apes” (2001), keep in mind this entry is better by default. Tim Burton and Mark Wahlberg have nothing to do with this.

for how I wanted to say, “Hey ape! I like your fur…and your movie.”