Planet of the Apes [M]

In the year 2029, interstellar reconnaissance missions are performed by trained chimpanzee pilots from the space station Oberon. During once such mission, a chimp pilot gets lost in an electromagnetic storm and his trainer, Leo, braves the unknown to bring him back. When Leo loses communication with Oberon, his pod malfunctions, and he crash lands in a jungle planet, similar to Earth. To Leo’s astonishment, the planet is inhabited by English-speaking apes who don’t take to humans. Lost and alone, Leo concocts a plan to escape from this ape-infested nightmare and return back to his home planet. 


An interesting interpretation of the original film starring Charlton Heston, Planet of the Apes is, I think, the only Tim Burton film that I don’t feel is essential to have in my collection. I will say that the special effects, prosthetics and makeup were brilliant, the script had its moments, and the actors were great, but unfortunately the film went around in even more circles than the original one (from what I remember). 


In the year 2029, interstellar reconnaissance missions are performed by specially trained chimpanzee pilots. When one mission goes wrong and a chimp is lost, his trainer Leo, embarks upon a rescue mission that turns out to be more dangerous than he ever imagined. After braving an electromagnetic storm, Leo finds himself stranded on a jungle planet similar to Earth. To his astonishment, the planet is inhabited by English-speaking apes who do not take kindly to “damn dirty humans.” Lost and alone, Leo is determined to find out where he is and then to escape from this ape-infested nightmare. But this is going to be more dangerous and more difficult than he could ever have imagined. 


I’m going to come clean and say that I really don’t get the story of Planet of the Apes. It just seems to be a mixture of time travel and going around in science fiction circles with the boot going onto the other foot in the process. Pushing forward through time to arrive at a time that’s years behind the technological state in which we left, discovering that evolution is just repeating itself and going in circles, is a little too hard to grasp for me. 
I will say that the outstanding feature of this film was the prosthetics and the makeup. Absolutely amazing. Really realistic, which is what you want in a film rather than have over-the-top computer graphics that take away the realism of the whole thing. Rick Baker is a genius. 
Planet of the Apes is filled with familiar faces including Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Giamatti, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Kris Kristofferson, all of whom deliver great performances. 
Filled with action, suspense, romance, science fiction, time travel, monkeys, rebellion, and battles, Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes is an interesting trip, though not one that I’d like to experience very often.