I wasn’t really expecting much from the “Rise of The Planet of The Apes”. Could it be because of the way the blockbuster season has been going as of late? The last few blockbusters have been average with the exception of the last “Harry Potter” film. Or could it be the fact that I am getting sick of constant reboots? Maybe it’s both. All I know is that I wasn’t expecting anything out of this film (I thought it was just going to be an average picture with only a few inspired moments). However, “Rise of the Planet of The Apes” is a very good surprise of film because of some extremely well made special effects, some exciting and frightening action sequences, and one very good performance by Andy Serkis. That being said, “Rise of The Planet of The Apes” is not without its flaws, but those flaws don’t bring the film down and it manages to still escape with something exciting and strong.

Set in modern day San Francisco, a scientist named Will Rodman, played by James Franco, works for a pharmaceutical company. They are on the verge of discovering the cure for Alzheimer’s disease by testing their drugs on chimpanzees. This drug gives a chimpanzee human intelligence, but is shot dead after an incident.  It turns out that this chimpanzee was a mother to a baby chimp and Will (James Franco) takes the baby chimp home after the incident for what it is supposed to be a few days, but he keeps the baby chimp for a few years.

Will’s father (John Lithgow) names the chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis) and he becomes a part of the family. The human intelligence from his mother is past down to him and his intelligence grows year by year (his intelligence practically equals a human).  It is because of his acquired intelligence that he will eventually lead the apes to rebel against humans.

This is a film with a very talented cast; James Franco, John Lithgow, Frieda Pinto, Brian Cox and Tom Felton. However, the human characters are really a bore compared to the apes. James Franco is a very talented actor but he is not really interesting in this picture. He just comes across as ordinary and a bit wooden. Frieda Pinto, who you may remember from “Slumdog Millionaire”, is pretty appealing as the veterinarian and Will’s love interest.  John Lithgow is equally good as Will’s father. However, it is the apes who steal the show because they are given the most personalities out of all the other characters. However, there is the exception of the John Lithgow and Tom Felton characters because they seem the most memorable.

Perhaps the best performance of the film is Andy Serkis’ portrayal as Caesar, the leader of the apes. It is a motion capture performance where Serkis gives the character its motion and facial expressions. Then the look of the ape is added later. Serkis isn’t new to this form of performance because he was the one who played Gollum in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” and he also played King Kong in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong”. He was great in those films, but, to me, this is Serkis’ best performance to date because he brings such an emotionally charged performance.

Even though they aren’t real apes they actually DO look like real apes and that is another thing that makes this film praise worthy. The special effects in this film are some of the best I have seen this year. The film proves you can have state of the art special effects and come up with something original.

The action sequences are both exciting and frightening.  Even though most of them do not come up until the third act, they are still memorable. One notable one is when the apes break free and start attacking San Francisco. This is one of the times that the action sequences don’t bring the film down. Sometimes a film won’t be good because of some dull action sequences but “Rise of The Planet of The Apes” is exciting, which at the same time makes it good.

“Rise of the Planet of The Apes” exceeded my expectations because of some well executed action sequences, some great special effects, and a great performance by Andy Serkis. Of course they also pay homage to the original movie; I won’t say what they are, but I’m sure a majority of people will figure out when this happens, and enjoy it. Plus this movie is not in 3-D, so we can actually enjoy without being alerted by darkness. Of course there is the possibility of the sequel, and this is one of those times that I believe a sequel is worthy, because this film will be a catalyst of a real potential for a reboot of a memorable franchise.

***| PG-13| 105 Minutes