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39 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Missed Opportunity, October 4, 2001
I believe the original 1968 version of "The Planet of the Apes" was the first time I realized that a film might actually be something more than an escapist entertainment. In fact, it might have something important and relevant to say to its audience. Indeed, that first film seemed to have something to say on a wide variety of topics: race relations, bigotry, vivisection, free thinking within an oppressive society as well as humanity's place in the universe. It made these points by using ironic twists, gentle humor and downright scathing satire; all wrapped within the context of an exciting sci-fi adventure story. The result was a classic piece of film making. An almost instant icon of 20th century pop culture that eventually spawned four sequels and even a short lived TV series. So, when I heard that 20th Century Fox wanted to do a "re-imagining" of POTA my first thought was "Why?". Hadn't the first film gotten everything right the first time around? Why monkey (no pun intended) with something that was pretty much perfect already? Then I heard that Tim Burton had been assingned to direct and I thought that here was an ideal choice if you were going to re-imagine something as iconic as POTA. After all, he had done a marvelous job of revamping the image of Batman from that of the ridiculously campy to that of the more respectible avenging Dark Knight (only to have Joel Schumaker undermine all of that with "Batman and Robin"). While a re-imaging of POTA wasn't needed, I thought, it still might be interesting to see the results of such an undertaking from the capable hands of a director like Burton. Unfortunately the final product failed to meet my expectations. The biggest dissapointment here is the script, no real plot and flat, one dimensional characters ... The social commentary, so important to the original, is almost completely lacking here. Early on in the story there are some token nods to racism and human vs animal rights but then the writers never develop them. ... The characters, especially the human ones, are hardly worth caring about. Leo, the lost astronaut (Mark Wahlberg), seems to just wander around through the film in a catatonic trance; never even aware of the romantic interest of the human female (Estella Warren) or that of the chimp female Ari (Helena Bonham Carter). The film makes it obvious the two are interested in Leo but, again, fail to develop it into anything. This movie wants to get up and go but is eventually left spinning its wheels aimlessly for two hours. However, its not all bad. There are some things that make this film worth viewing. One, is Burton's visuals. Burton is first and foremost a visual director. In other words, the look of the film seems to take precedence over everything else. Unfortunately that's the case here. The script [is poor] but the film itself looks gorgeous. I particularly loved the shots of Ape City built into the huge and forbidding rocky crag, also the views of the long marching columns of the ape army at night. Also, the forest that surrounds the city is one of those typically beautiful but scary Burtonesque fairy tale type affairs. My favorite aspect to this film is Rick Baker's incredible ape make-up. These are simply incredible designs that obviously had a lot of work put into them. If Baker doesn't win an Oscar for his efforts there is simply no justice in the world. Another good thing going for this film is the quality of the performances which for the most part are quite good. In particular Tim Roth as the violently tempered chimp General Thade and Helena Bonham Carter as the female chimp Ari who sympathizes with the plight of the humans. There is also good comic relief in the form of the Orangutan vender of humans played by Paul Giamatti. And Michael Duncan Clarke is an imposing Colonel Attar. I also have to make mention of Charlton Heston's brief cameo as Thade's dying father. In one of the films few good ironic moments Heston's character introduces the concept of guns into the story. Thade's Daddy has been hiding the fact that humans at one time had such dangerous weapons (apparently apes have never developed firearms) and reveals the secret to his son before he kicks the bucket. Finally, mention must be made of Danny Elfman's wonderful score; a nice blending of Jerry Goldsmith's atonal, primitive sounds that worked so well for the original film with that of a full orchestra. I may or may not get the DVD but I will certainly add the soundtrack to my collection. Ultimately I found this "re-imagining" of POTA a disappointment. There are occaisional moments where this film shows that it has the potential to achieve so much but then turns around and squanders it. When will Hollywood learn that cool visuals and great looking make-up are not enough to make an excellent or even a good movie?
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Stupid Gimmick--Poor Commentary, November 19, 2003
I have enjoyed several of Tim Burton's previous films (especially his SLEEPY HOLLOW "detective" movie), and I have been a fan of the original PLANET OF THE APES film since it was first released. This "remake" (which does not follow either the original didactic book or the original movie) seems to have been made solely in order to display Burton's gimmicky idea of transposing the positions of apes and human beings at the end when the hero (Mark Wahlberg) returns to his own time. This seems to have been done merely to surprise and shock the hero (and the viewer), but it makes absolutely no sense, either logically or in terms of the story arc (such as it is), for the apes who are now controlling Wahlberg's earth are far more technologically and politically advanced than the apes who live in the future which he'd just left. The film has very few interesting moments, a noteworthy exception being when an elderly chimp played by NRA gun lobbyist Charlton Heston (who also played "Taylor" in the original film) expresses terror of guns. Finally, if you listen to Burton's commentary on the DVD, you may be dismayed by the difficulties he has when speaking his mind: "Just wanted a sort of a clean technology--something not too far in the future--something--uh--very clean, very--uh--but--uh. Circular was always important because I--. That was something I always felt was sort of important to the overall Planet-of-the-Apes mythology. There's a circular-in-nature to the goes-around-comes-around type feeling just in the overall structure, so [I] tried to keep that with the space stuff and--and--you know--keep it sort of clean and technological and--and--you know--that was all very important to set against the brutal--you know--ape world and [I] wanted to make that a real juxtaposition between the two." Get it?
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
One Mushy Banana, April 12, 2005
Tim Burton has created a library of films that continue to delight and amaze his fans with quirky characters and off-beat stories. Burton helmed such diverse films as "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", "Batman", "Ed Wood" and "Sleepy Hollow" stamping each with his unique sensibility. Each of these films has been a feast for the eyes, creating vivid landscapes and re-imagining time and place. What Tim Burton films lack is a screenplay that spends as much time on character development, dialogue and exposition as is spent on the visual look of the film. "Planet of the Apes", Burton's latest film, is his take on the 1968 sci-fi film.
Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) is an air force pilot on a research space station, assisting a team experimenting with chimp-manned missions. When his favorite chimp gets lost, Davidson hops into another pod and tracks his lost friend. Davidson crash lands on a planet inhabited by apes and humans. However, on this planet, apes rule the humans. The apes are very advanced and have set-up a society which seems to be patterned after the Roman model. General Thade (Tim Roth) is the leader of the ape military and his right hand ape is Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan). Most of the apes are so fearful of the humans that they relegate them to slave status and hunt down any that are not in their control. The Senator's (David Warner) daughter, Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) is disgusted by their treatment of humans and immediately thinks Davidson is interesting. Davidson soon leads a small group of humans to escape. Among them is Daena (Estella Warren) and her father, Karubi (Kris Kristofferson).
The single best thing about this reimagined "POTA" is the make-up by Rick Baker. The new make-up allows the actors playing apes to actually build characters, to have facial expressions, to act like advanced apes. Roth is particularly memorable as the evil Thade. He moves like an ape and appears very menacing as he threatens and cajoles other characters. Bonham Carter is also very good as Ari. She manages to convey an intelligence and thoughtfullness for her character that I don't think would have been possible with less advanced make-up.
The production design is interesting, but somehow it seems incomplete for a Tim Burton film. Basically, three main sets are used and they are fun to look at, but the production design does not extend beyond these areas. In "Sleepy Hollow", his production team built an entire village. When Ichabod Crane is venturing into the woods, they looked like they belonged to the time and place. In "Apes", it basically looks like they shot scenes in a desert.
The actors playing humans fare less well than their ape-suited friends. Wahlberg looks stunned throughout the entire film. He is also unable to build the key relationships that he needs to build. He is unable to show any real anger towards Thade or build any romantic attachment between Ari or Daena. In fact, the `love triangle' between Davidson, Ari and Deana is just laughable. Any time Davidson has a `meaningful' scene with either Ari or Daena, Burton cuts away to the other female watching with a jealous look. Estella Warren is not a good actress. In both "Driven" and "Apes" she plasters one expression on her face and gosh-darned she is going to stick to that expression.
The set-up involving the space research is interesting and holds the attention, but once the action centers on the planet, it becomes boring. I think this is in large part because Davidson never actually appears threatened by Thade or Attar. Yes, Thade and Attar are threatening Davidson, but Wahlberg never makes the character appear threatened. As soon as he is captured, he attempts to break out. Also, he doesn't appear to actually want to help the humans or the apes on the planet. As soon as he can, he jumps at the first chance to escape from the planet, leaving both Ari and Daena behind.
The ending was the final straw. Without discussing or revealing too much, it doesn't make sense. The visuals and the story don't support the `kicker' ending that the filmmakers felt was necessary. If you are going to have a `kicker' ending, it needs to make sense. If it doesn't make sense, it spoils the film and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Tim Burton is a gifted visual filmmaker. I would like to say that he is a gifted filmmaker, but I feel it necessary to add the `visual' qualifier. He spends so much effort and time on the visual he needs to devote an equal amount of time and attention to the story and characters.
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