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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 7177
Released: February 11, 2003 |
| Our Price: $2.59 |
| Used Price: $0.99 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
After a spectacular crash-landing on an uncharted planet, brash astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) finds himself trapped in a savage world where talking apes dominate the human race. Desperate to find a way home, Leo must evade the invincible gorilla army led by ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) and his most trusted warrior, Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan). Now the pulse-pounding race is on to reach a sacred temple that may hold the shocking secrets of mankind's past - and the last hope for it's salvation!
Description of Planet of the Apes (Special Edition):
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 (Special Edition) Reviews:
Entertaining 
2009-10-21 - This film is simply good entertainment, it is interesting, and the acting enjoyable, definately superior to the originals, however, the character interaction is not as well choreographed as the some of the originals were. This movie is worth watching for those afectionados that new the originals.
planet of the apes (remake) 
2009-09-15 - I like the way the apes and ape city were done. the story line could have gone on a little bit longer. the main reason i got the dvd was because of the apes. now if i just figure out how to get heston in the dvd it will be a great movie. even without him it was a good movie.
Pass the Bananas
2009-09-14 - Here's a remake that is often silly, the ending is so far over the top it has skid marks, and Mark Wahlberg goes through every single scene with the same constipated grimace, yet I still had fun watching Tim Burton's version of PLANET OF THE APES. A little technology since the 1968 original goes a long way, including some dynamic special effects, and ape makeup that looks astonishingly real. (How does Helena Bonham Carter in full ape attire actually look good? I dunno.) Plus Burton lets his apes monkey around; they're actually jumping and screeching and doing stuff with their feet--not to mention some intimate grooming.
I don't know enough about the original story to know (or care) which version pays more homage; what I do know is if you can get past all the silliness (and the urge to hose down a greasy Kris Kristofferson) you will enjoy some actors mucking it up as apes, including a wickedly funny Paul Giamatti and a hulking Michael Clarke Duncan. Tim Roth plays the villain ape in primate evil fashion, while there's even a cameo by the great Charlton Heston himself, in, irony of ironies, ape makeup. No, PLANET OF THE APES will never make my Ten Best, yet Tim Burton's tongue-in-cheek tribute to the original is still pretty darn fun.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
Revised Planet of the Apes falls short of original
2009-07-30 - I enjoyed aspects of this movie. Tim Burton's moody visuals, and in particular his punctuation of the darks with red accents is stunning. But the parody of human types is often overstated and would have been more effective if downplayed. It's as if at times the movie has been reduced to a tv sitcom. The lack of character development keeps this movie from being more engaging than it could have been.
The ending was disappointing as we get an alternate reality that is unbelievable. If Mark Wahlberg had accidentally gone further into the future instead of into his past then this ending could have made some sense. The ending seems like an afterthought that comes across as cartoony (an ape statue that parallels the Lincoln Memorial). It certainly doesn't match the awe and anguish that we have at the end of the first Planet of the Apes film where we see what remains of the Statue of Liberty and the realization of the tragedy that that implied about the outcome for the human race.
As a footnote there's an interesting appearance earlier in the film by Charlton Heston (portrayed in makeup as an ape) as he resites one of his famous lines from the original movie.
Apes Gone Wild
2009-06-16 - This movie isn't like the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes. The plot isn't as substantive or thought-provoking. Rather, it is an action movie more along the lines of the contemporaneous The Time Machine. However, the makeup for the apes is pretty good, even after 8 years. Overall, this can be a fun movie to watch, but won't have the staying power of the classic.
