Customer Reviews:
Planet of the turkeys.......2006-05-02
Note: this review is based on the cinema release.
The original 1968 Planet of the Apes was a favourite as a child, and although the sequels trailed off, (ending with the dreadful Battle for the Planet of the Apes in the mid '70s) I retain an affection for the original series and was looking forward to this "revisioning" by a respected director.
Imagine my disappointment on actually watching this remake. Good special effects, more convincing ape impersonations, a couple of cameos (admittedly Charlton Heston's appearence is one of the better moments in the film) does not make up for a poor plot. A lot of money was spent on this film. It could have been better spent on conservation work with monkeys in the wild.
Overall a disappointment.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Tim Burton's "re-imagining" of Planet of the Apes is about one thing above all else: monkey movement. But for most filmgoers, whether fans of the 1967 original or not, that's simply not enough. Thematically the story of an outsider in a society that doesn't know what to do with him chimes in nicely with Burton's other work. As always with Burton, the focus is more on what's colourfully going on around the central character (Mark Wahlberg) than his own story. It all looks stunning, of course, as make-up, set design and costumes outdo the accomplishments of the original. But otherwise a direct comparison with the classic version simply shows up holes in the Burton approach. The breakneck pace at which the pared-down plot is told makes little sense of the material and misses all the satire and social comment potential. What sold the idea to Burton was the opportunity to goof around with apes as humans: as a result the background is constantly peppered with lame visual gags which fall as flat as the unnecessary homages to Charlton Heston, who pops up repeating lines of his own dialogue from the first movie. Slick, action-packed and ultimately nonsensical, this is the film that made a monkey of Tim Burton.
On the DVD: balancing out the disappointing movie experience is an exceptional 13 hours of extra material. From the heavily CG-animated menus, you'll encounter some standard fare like libraries of promo material (posters, ads and trailers) and concept art. But they're enormous, as are the 26 cast and crew text profiles. If the THX optimiser tests don't convince you of the need for top equipment, there's DVD-ROM and NUON-enhanced player features as well. The "White Rabbit" Enhanced Viewing Mode for FX vignettes and four multi-angle featurettes on shooting scenes may seem a little dry, but the other features ranging from 10 to 30 minutes aren't. You'll find it hard picking a favourite between Rick Baker gushing over the lifetime dream of ape make-up, Michael Clarke Duncan playing to camera on location, or Danny Elfman at work on the scoring stage. Of the two commentaries Elfman's is better by far, even if somewhat sporadic and clearly not recorded to picture. Burton's is typically fragmented, and is certainly not the place to discover what on earth the "shock-value-for-the-sake-of-it" ending means. --Paul Tonks
Customer Reviews:
A film acted through the medium of teeth........2008-01-13
I am a bit of a Planet of the Apes fan and looked forward to seeing this film. I always knew that it was a re-imagining of the original film/Pierre Buelle novel.
This had a lot to live up to - the original film has the famous 'statue of liberty scene' - a twist that impressed Buelle so much that he wished he'd thought of it for his book. The Original film itself deviated from the novel quite a bit, so it would be unfair to knock this new film for doing the same thing, but....
...Some aspects of the film stand out as pretty poor. The make-up for the Apes is amazing - truly excellent - but Bonham Carter looks more like a foxy human than a God damn dirty ape! This was obviously done so that we sense the cross-species sexual tension between her and Leo.
The wild savage humans all have gleaming pearly white teeth and look as thought they've walked straight from the catwalk. Actually, this film is acted by teeth - those who have beyond perfect ultra-white dentalwork are the 'goodies' (this applies for both apes and humans)- and the jagged half rotten mouths belong to the baddies.
And they all speak perfect English - so if they are so articulate, then why haven't they managed to set up their own uprising?
My main gripe with this film however is that it contains too many modern cultural references. In order to show how the Apes have replaced the 'top dog' role of man, they are shown to be living in a society which mirrors ours - one even comes out with an Oscar Wilde quote. They refer to human rights protesters in the same way that they are referred to in our press.
So - in a nutshell: This is a remake which has managed to outdo all the production values of the previous 'Apes' films, but ended up with a film which feels like it was made for a straight-to-TV release. It's just too obvious, contains to many coincidences (the seemingly only thing to remain from the old days of man is Leo's lab which is fully operational thousands of years later), it captures nothing. We all make mistakes, and this one was was Tim Burton's. There was no reason to remake what was (and is) a classic film. This film can be summed up in one word - "Why?".
Planet of the bad remakes!.......2006-06-26
This is not as bad a movie as many would have you believe, however neither is it a good movie.......... if you like sci-fi you can watch this movie on a slow saturday afternoon, if you don't like sci-fi, don't bother.
The movie itself has some great names, Tim Roth, Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter but none of them give a memorable performance.
The DVD extras are fantastic! Great DVD-ROM stuff, excellent sections on how the movie was made etc. The extras are really great for movie nerds!
But be warned, this is a bad remake, just because you enjoyed the original(s) don't be sure you will like this also.
Nonsense.......2006-03-06
The 1968 original film is a vague memory to me. I remember it being pretty cheesey, but it can't be as bad as this rubbish. Good ape make-up doesn't make a good film. The leads are uninteresting, the acting is poor, and the plot doesn't stand up to any scrutiny; oh, and its is pretty predicatable too. At times it is like some Channel 5 Xena Warrior Princess meets Sinbad meets apes. Watch it and I predict you will lose the will to live about 25 minutes in. And the ending is laugh out loud nonsense
bought by mistake.......2005-09-07
Mea maxima culpa - wanted 1968 movie. Was terribly dissapointed, bought the old one and liked it much better. I generally like this kind of movies - e.g., Star Wars (esp. IV-VI), Blade Runner, Batman (+returns) and some more, but this particular one was pitiful. I gave it to a friend on condition he will not return it. Just like "Chronicles of Riddick", by the way.
Average.......2005-07-08
An ok movie, but not one for Burton fans. Disappointing, almost like Burton wasn't aloud to blossom when remaking this classic.
DVD Review:
- Pleasantville [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Romancing the Stone [1984] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Schizopolis [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island [1998] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Screamers [1996]
- Scrooge [1935] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Shallow Hal/Me, Myself & Irene [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Soul Searcher [2006]
- Space Cowboys [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Space Cowboys [HD DVD] [2000] [US Import]
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