While this movie had a lot going for it, I just couldn’t get into it for some reason. Perhaps that was because the central conflict in the movie seemed too contrived. There really wasn’t a good reason for the apes and humans to fight – they could have easily worked something out. It would almost have been better without the whole “we need a dam for a power plant” thing, and just have the motivation been pure hatred and racism (which there was plenty of anyway). It didn’t help that I was watching this on my newly broken iPad – so had to watch between the cracks… that kind of takes the joy out of anything.

One thing – I do like these sequel remakes better than the 1970s Planet of the Apes sequels. (Though, the original Planet of the Apes will always remain the best.)

Just taken scene-by-scene for the special effects, and even some of the acting… it’s an entertaining movie. But, when you think of the movie as a whole, there are some pretty major issues with the plot. Normally, I can put these things aside, but in this case, they were distracting. Instead of enjoying the movie, I was thinking about this stuff.

Question 1: What exactly are the apes going to do for food? Even during their day of rampage, I think they’d be left pretty darn hungry. Muir Woods is cool, but the redwoods don’t supply much food.

Question 2: During their rampage, the apes free a bunch of their brethren from the zoo. But, the zoo apes haven’t been spritzed with the “smart virus”, so how would they know what’s going on? They’re still “stupid apes”, as the orangutan put it.

Question 3: The actions of the guy running the company just aren’t rational. No executive would be so completely stupid – they’d be fired immediately… And ramping up production of an unapproved drug isn’t only stupid, it’s illegal.

With a little more imaginative writing, these questions could have been addressed, and the movie would have been better for it. How is it possible that people could spend millions of dollars on a movie, and be so lazy as to leave huge holes in the plot?

So, I guess we’re left with the obvious sequel, where the disease spreads and the apes take over… is that it?