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I always thought that when you remake a movie that it is supposed to be better than the original or have something more to offer than the original. Well unfortunately that is not the case for Planet of the Apes 2001. The plot is not as interesting as the 1968 original film, the special effects are no different or better than they were almost 30 years ago. In fact, what is wrong with that picture? Why do these apes not appear more special than their ancestors? The only thing that makes them more evolved than their nuclear fallout cousins is, they are coifed. Yes these apes like to sport fancy hair styles reminiscent of the 1990’s. Go figure that? After thousands and thousands of years these apes do their doo’s after Vidal Sassoon and Paul Mitchell. The gait of the apes is not improved, the living quarters seem more 15th century than whatever year Mark Wahlberg (A Perfect Storm) landed in and in the original it was more tree house. I was bored throughout the entire movie and felt as if I was being preached to by PETA. It is not enough to drill it into your head over and over if we don’t save the animals they will be extinct in the next generation. Now we are bombarded with if you treat your animal like an animal it will cage you and put you to work, in the coming centuries. In fact the only thing done as well as the first Planet of the Apes is they stole the same line, “Take your dirty filthy hands off of me human.” I love the irony in both films but then again I thought the writers could have come up with their own dialogue that transcends generations even if they thought they were being clever using the same line. The plot I abhorred so much started out in a space ship in the year 2029. Wahlberg is a pilot/astronaut Leo Davidson and the military now uses genetically engineered chimpanzees to fly the space craft. As they put it, the astronaut is the minor and the chimpanzee is the canary. After a brief interaction between the vet, Wahlberg and his chimpanzee the ship experiences some sort of meteor shower, magnetic forces or problem. They send out the chimpanzee much to the disappointment of Wahlberg. He immediately disappears. Wahlberg jumps in his space craft and goes after the chimpanzee. Well you guessed it he is gone too. He shoots through some time warp and crash lands in a jungle at the bottom of a pool of water. After crawling out of the water, humans run by him. They are all being pursued by apes and are captured. These apes turn them over to a slave trader. The slave trader is interrupted by an activist, she is the daughter of the senator. This activist is against the mistreatment of humans. She takes home Wahlberg and Ari (Helena Bonham Carter, Fight Club) They escape later that night and rescue the other humans caught that day. Among them is Kris Kristofferson (Payback) who is Ari’s father. His role is more like a cameo. The activist joins the run and leads them out of the city. In pursuit of these humans is a devout human hater, General Thade (Tim Roth, Pulp Fiction) he has a thing for the senator’s daughter and is very angry she prefers humans to him. He wants them dead. Aiding the general is Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan, The Whole Nine Yards) he comes across as a religious ape. He prays to Seamus, the ape that explains their origins or beginnings. The pursuit is long and drawn out. The discovery predictable and unimaginative and the battle that follows lacking. The ending does not disappoint. It leaves it open for a sequel. I expected this so I was not disappointed. Planet of the Apes 2001 was directed by Tim Burton, I like Sleepy Hollow so much better than this tame tale. In fact I was let down by the lack of special effects in the film. The rumors that the movie was not going to be finished in time must have been more than publicity hype, because it looks like they really rushed to put the film together and the story line. My guess they were not entirely sure what direction they wanted to take it and it shows. I give Planet of the Apes a generous four couches in the About-Movies.com scale. Nanu nanu
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:49:09 AM Click Here to get back into frames.
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