Planet of the Apes:2001

For my next post I will be reviewing the 2001 reworking of Planet of the Apes. Planet of the Apes is a loose adaptation of Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel of the same name and of the 1968 version also called Planet of the Apes. Sadly Planet of the Apes fails to equal the original film and book due to poor dialogue, shallow characters and an incoherent plot.Yet in my humble opinion it does have certain qualities that merit it a higher rating than a 2, such as its visuals. I was awed by the first look at the ape village and at the ship that the apes arrived in and by the beautifully designed ape costumes such as this one below

  Colonel Attar in full costume with makeup by Rick Baker.

 

Another good aspect of this film is the fantastic ape masks by Rick Baker. The suits are so realistic that some critics said that the non-human rolls were made uninteresting because the stars were so buried in makeup! Yet my opinion is that the makeup is fantastic and remains the best aspect of the film!

The score by Danny Elfman is also another merit that this film possesses. It is unusally good jungle type music and quite well captures the essence of what Planet of the Apes is all about. The story concerns an astronaut that flies through an interdimensional portal of some sort and crash lands on a sort of counter earth where great apes are the dominant lifeform. I wont spoil the rest of the film though because quite honestly the desciption above really encompasses the story quite well.       

 

Time for the score!: Overall:3  Visual Effects:5  Music:4  Story:2 Dialogue:2  Visuals:5 

 

 

 

Up next: The Lost World Jurassic Park!