Release Date:
Friday, July 27, 2001
While the publicity camp around Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes has done a lot to distance this movie from its classic predecessor (“It’s not a remake,” they say, “it’s a reimagining.”), this is, arguably, the one case in which a total reinvention totally fits with the overall scheme of the Apes universe. Through four progressively worse sequels and two fairly dismal TV shows, Apes doesn’t have the kind of stainless steel rep that something like, say, Star Wars does (at least until George Lucas himself “reimagined” it all to hell), leaving the franchise ripe for someone to come in and give it a new shine. When that person is Burton, you know at the very least you’re going to be in for something unusual.
This Apes, however, actually isn’t as strange as you’d expect. While Burton-esque touches abound, the director delivers a slick, solid Sci-Fi movie that entertains from beginning to end. Guessing the actor behind the mask is part of the fun, and personalities do shine through, thanks to Rick Baker’s amazing make-up effects. (Tim Roth, Paul Giamatti, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, and even Charlton “Right to Bear Arms” Heston seem to be having a blast underneath the fur.) Your familiarity with the material (usually a hindrance in remakes) improves the movie experience, since it’s the key to many of its best jokes—and your familiarity with Heston makes for one particularly effective NRA reference. And since the original Apes films played with time and space, this one could conceivably even fit into the canon alongside its predecessors—something generally unheard of. (Can you imagine the 1998 American Godzilla fitting neatly alongside Toho’s version? No way!) The themes and ideas behind the story are not as cynical and play much more lightly than the original, and in a summer that’s been more bust than bang, Apes is cool, entertaining, and has friggin’ talking monkeys. Just what we needed.
This Apes, however, actually isn’t as strange as you’d expect. While Burton-esque touches abound, the director delivers a slick, solid Sci-Fi movie that entertains from beginning to end. Guessing the actor behind the mask is part of the fun, and personalities do shine through, thanks to Rick Baker’s amazing make-up effects. (Tim Roth, Paul Giamatti, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, and even Charlton “Right to Bear Arms” Heston seem to be having a blast underneath the fur.) Your familiarity with the material (usually a hindrance in remakes) improves the movie experience, since it’s the key to many of its best jokes—and your familiarity with Heston makes for one particularly effective NRA reference. And since the original Apes films played with time and space, this one could conceivably even fit into the canon alongside its predecessors—something generally unheard of. (Can you imagine the 1998 American Godzilla fitting neatly alongside Toho’s version? No way!) The themes and ideas behind the story are not as cynical and play much more lightly than the original, and in a summer that’s been more bust than bang, Apes is cool, entertaining, and has friggin’ talking monkeys. Just what we needed.