Planet of the Apes Reviews

I really like Tim Burton- Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Ed Wood, Batman, Beetle Juice and Sleepy Hollow are all great movies. The thing is this remake(or re-imagining if you like) is not, in fact this could very well be Burton's worst movie, even worse than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and that could have been much better. Tim Burton, what has happened to you? Before I get to the many negatives of this film, I will say the apes are very well done. Their mannerisms and the way they move are perfectly convincing. Plus Danny Elfman's score was pretty good, it's no Edward Scissorhands or Big Fish but it's good enough. And the scenery and special effects are fantastic.

However, that is all the praise I can give it. I am briefly going to say it is vastly inferior to the 1968 classic, which was much more exciting and much better written as well. The script is awful, not quite Pearl Harbor kind-of-awful, but some of it is lame and unintentionally cheesy. The story takes a while to get going and meanders all over the place, not helped by pedestrian pacing and drawn out scenes and very rarely gets interesting. Plus is it me, or does the film get unnecessarily loud at times? Tim Burton's direction was also a disappointment, usually his films are full of heart, that's what made Edward Scissorhands especially such a gem, but here he seems lost, bogged down might I say. On top of that, the character development is non-existent, as is the chemistry between the actors and the characters are extremely clichéd, especially Kris Kristofferson's character. And the acting didn't fare that much better, Mark Wahlberg is a bland lead, while Estella Warren acts like a zombie throughout. Then we have Tim Roth trying hard and giving the only credible performance as Thade, and Helena Bonham Carter wasted as sympathetic Ari, while Paul Giamatti is useless. Not even the talented David Warner can save this film. And don't get me started on the ending, what a bummer, so predictable and obvious.

Overall, a case of all style no substance. Definitely not Burton's finest hour. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I have actually seen this movie but it was already more than 10 years ago when it was released. Back then, there was huge buzz about this flick. Indeed, at that time, it seemed like a good idea to let Tim Burton direct a remake. Fast-forward 10 years later and nowadays we can’t wait to see him finally developing an original idea…. Anyway, a remake had been in development for almost 15 years involving various directors such as Sam Raimi, Oliver Stone, Phillip Noyce, Chuck Russell, Chris Columbus, Roland Emmerich, Michael Bay, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, and the Hughes brothers. So, the expectations were pretty high and most of us thought Tim Burton would deliver the goods. Unfortunately, the whole thing was terribly disappointing, probably the worst thing made by Burton so far. I would go even further by saying that it was worse than any movie made in this franchise which is quite shocking when you think that this new version had a budget 20 times bigger than the classic 1st installment. After re-watching it, it was even more obvious to see what they messed up. First of all, it was quite honorable that they tried to create a really different story but, in the process, they removed most of the coolest elements from the original version such as Taylor wandering on this strange planet, the fact that humans seem to be some wild animals unable to speak and, of course, they completely butchered the legendary ending. I mean, the whole thing looked pretty awesome, above all the make-up and costumes but it is as if they didn’t bother to build up a solid story. Furthermore, the acting was way below average. Back then, Mark Wahlberg was a rising star and it seemed to be a smart move to show up in such a blockbuster but he gave here probably his worst performance I have seen so far. To be honest, the rest of the cast was not much better and even Tim Roth, who looked just awesome, eventually really got on my nerves with his over-the-top psychotic monkey act. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was really disappointing, I’m probably being too generous with my rating, but somehow, it is still worth a look just to see those awesome monkeys.