PG-13, 119 min.
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: William Broyles
Jr., Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Pierre Boulle (novel “La Planéte des
Singes”)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tim
Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella
Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner, Kris Kristofferson, Erick Avari,
Luke Eberl, Evan Dexter Parke, Glenn Shadix, Freda Foh Shen, Chris Ellis, Anne
Ramsay, Lisa Marie
Tim Burton’s 2001 remake “Planet
of the Apes” stands as the bastard child of the franchise. Even in comparison
to such wretched entries to the series as 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the
Apes”, Burton’s film is held with contempt in fans’ minds. I was never in this
camp of thinking. In fact, when I first reviewed the film upon its theatrical
release, I gave it 3½ stars. In light of the recent reboot series, my initial
thoughts on Burton’s take seem ill conceived.
It isn’t as bad as all that,
but it isn’t that good either. I felt the plot twists were interesting. Of
course, the twist ending is what seems to have gotten most peoples’ panties in
a bunch, but I think it works in the spirit of the Planet of the Apes
mythology. The real problems with the movie come in the form of Hollywood’s 1990s
insistence on dumbing things down for the audience. A twelve-year-old could’ve
written the dialogue, and we’re subjected to countless scenes of the ape actors
flying around and pounding their fists like apes, as if we might forget through
their makeup that they’re supposed to be apes and not people. The ape sound
effects are just as insistent that as an audience we are not intelligent enough
to remember this just by looking at the screen.
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