Yep, that's my assessment of 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes!' It also swipes a lot of themes and scenes from various other movies. If you've seen it, you might see my comparisons. If you haven't and plan to, I'm not going to spoil the movie for you. If you're not going to see it and don't care...may your True Love give you 3 French toasts, 2 Turtle Bars, and a John Deere by the pear tree!!OK, here we go:
Frankenstein: James Franco, the scientist who meets The Babe played by Freida Pinto, develops ALZ-112 serum to cure his father's Alzheimer Disease. The tests on chimps creates Caesar, the hero with the super brain who has Jimmy F as his 'father,' as JF tells him with sign language.
Buckaroo Bonzai: John Lithgow is Dad with Alzheimer...a gentle reprise of Professor Emilio Lazardo, who goes insane because he's possessed by an alien from the 8th Dimension.
Julius Caesar: Not only does John Lithgow quote from Shakespeare's play...which is how the baby chimp gets named Caesar...but you've got the rise of the chimp who got the ALZ-112 effects passed on genetically...a variant of Caesar's claim to being descended from a big shot in Roman history...OK, I forget which one, so sue me! ;p
Charly: Jimmy F injects Dad Lithgow with ALZ-112; which not only arrests Dad's Alzheimer but makes him brilliant!! Down side: the 'cure' aint and Dad gets worse and croaks...at least Charly only went back to being Charly.
Shawshank Redemption: Big ape jail house scene where Bully Chimp beats up Caesar. Caesar gets smarter, frees BIG Gorilla and Gorilla straightens out Bully Chimp. Caesar gives cookies to ALL the apes...becomes Big Boss Chimp.
Silverado: Caesar jimmies his cage lock with a knife he swiped from a stupid human much as Kevin Costner jimmies his cell lock in Silverado by touch.
King Kong: BIG Gorilla saves Caesar...shot by human assassin in helicopter...biplanes would have been cooler, but, hey, it's 2011!
Lion King: Caesar climbs to the top of a giant redwood to look down on his domain on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge from 'Frisco with a setting sun as backdrop. Only thing missing was a wife and baby chimp.
Jumangi: Some of my boys who saw this one (I didn't) told me in the post-show chit chat that the scene where the chimps run along the tops of the trees down a San Fran boulevard with leaves falling everywhere came from this flick.
Planet of the Apes: Caesar's first word is "NOOOOO!" ...just like Chuck Heston, if memory serves. Also, there's a "get your filthy paw off me" by the one human. My boys tell me the ALZ-112 is a tip of the hat to the 112 minute run time of Planet, too.
Firefly Series/Serenity: The G-23 paxilon hydrochlorate was supposed to make people peaceful. It caused 99.9% to lay down and die and .1% to become maniacally aggressive cannibals who killed the scientists and roam The Verse for mayhem alone. The ALZ-112 is gonna cause the Apes to dominate the humans!
X2: OK, Brian Cox (Col. Stryker in X2) who gave Wolverine his metal skeleton plays the head of the Ape Sanctuary where Caesar passes the gas to smarten up his ape buddies, turning them into mutants, too. The mutants were also caged on Three Mile Island!
Well, that's it for now.
Got popcorn & bananas?
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