Estella Warren Movie:

Editorial Review:
Billed as a "reimagining" of the original 1968 film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honorable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape makeup (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal--the dominance of apes over humans--into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right.

While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. --Jeff Shannon

Planet of the Apes [Region 2] Reviews:
Tim Burton's Folly
2008-11-14 - While it is often a mistake to compare remakes to the original film, I will gloss over the mediocrity of Mark Wahlberg's performance and focus on what concerns me most. When this film was made, Charlton Heston, who gives an outstanding but unbilled performance as a dying simian patriach, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. In short, he was a man dying from a terribel. To cast him as a dying man was both egregiously cruel and insensitive. Shame on Tim Burton!

Lacks the Punch of the Original
2008-11-05 - There are so many good things about this "re-imagining" of THE PLANET OF THE APES but it just doesn't have the creative punch of the original. It's unfair to say that because, of course, everyone is familiar with the 1968 sci-fi classic that spawned several sequels and a TV series so there's no way around that popularity.

The opening space sequence was too long. The story awkwardly shifted gears several times. The final battle felt contrived and the aftermath was terse and predictable (I'm sorry but I'd staying on whatever planet had Estella Warren in a skimpy loincloth). And the final scene--meant as a homage to the original Rod Serling penned whammy ending--only left me scratching my head.

But the makeup is amazing. Top notch production values. Fun to see Charlton Heston in a cameo (and hear famaliar lines from his version).

Just didn't come close to the original.

Planet with a twist.
2008-10-27 - I did not think I was going to like this on Blu-Ray, but I did.
I enjoyed the story with its better picture quality on my studio HDTV system (PS3). Good action and a good story line. Hope they make another followup. The end has a great twist to it.

Not very good
2008-10-13 - It lacks the campiness of the original. Instead, there's the angry chimp Thade, played by Tim Roth, evidently with a Napoleon complex -- he's a lot shorter than the gorillas, so he gets to be constantly angry, and not very interesting. Mark Wahlberg doesn't have enough depth as a leading man to carry a film by himself, his lines are simplified for his character, but a better actor who could handle more complexity would have been a better choice. He's cute, tho, and one of the lady chimps seems to have a crush on him. The big revelation at the end is not much of a revelation -- are we on earth or are we on another planet? It's not clear. If it's not earth, where did the humans come from? "C-mos" supposedly killed the ones from the ship. If it is earth, why are there other planets around it? Does the ending mean to suggest that Leo Davidson should have stayed? This movie would have been better with more imagination and less loud music, and if Kris Kristofferson got to have a better role. The sex scene was hilarious, tho.

Wheres the other disc????
2008-08-08 - Ok, where's the second disc??? I just bought the DVD and it doesn't have the second disc with the extra features on it. I know for a fact that it should have one. The disc I got refers to me to the second disc for additional features. My Uncle bought a few years ago my disc is exactly the same as his first one. But my case doesnt have the disc or even a place for it. It's as if the studio got tired of making double-disc cases and decided to leave it out. This is a gyp!!! I guess its expected from a price like $8.99!