Death By Monkeys

A month or so ago, when I first saw the trailer for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I got very excited.  So when opening day came around, I wanted to make sure that I saw it.  I had sent an email to Linda, whom was also excited when she saw the trailer, but I didn't hear back from her in time for the last matinee show of the day, so I went without her.  Of course, after I got out of the movie, I saw that she had sent me a text message agreeing to go to the movie with me, and was on her way to my house.  Oops.  Even though I had eaten almost a full bag of popcorn, the two of us went to dinner at Taisho.  We thought that we could see HP7.2, but the next showtime was too late.  I told her that I loved the movie so much that I would see "Apes" again, too, so we invited friends Cindy and Glenn to join us, which they did.  Yay!  There I was, watching the same movie in the SAME DAY.  Goodness gracious me.  So, yeah, I guess I liked it.  


More specifically:

• Yay!  Old school PotA font!
• So the reason for this whole Apes thing is because some Berkeley-graduate scientist's dad has Alzheimer's. John Lithgow does a great job, as always, and it turns out that he named Caesar because he had been reading Shakespeare.
• BTW, Origin story! Yay!
• Is it me, or does James Franco smile when he sleeps, like in that scene where Caesar is watching him?
• Freida Pinto is the prettiest veterinarian that I've ever seen.  Not that I've met that many veterinarians.
• Why does nobody ever give me a gesture of supplication?  I may need to work on that.
• Caesar growing up in the redwoods = Tarzan growing up in the jungle
• Oh, Malfoy.  Your magic wand does not work against vengeful apes.
• Andy Serkis is amazing.  AMAZING.  The way that he expresses himself without words just floored me throughout this movie. Actually, I didn't know that Serkis was Caesar until the credits (the first showing), but I was amazed at how much emotion I felt when Caesar showed his feelings.  
• The special effects of all of the monkeys was incredible.  This is not your father's "Planet of the Apes", where you knew that the apes were people in suits.  This is the CGI generation of questioning whether or not the apes actually exist like this.  Like, I would have expected Caesar to be there at the red carpet premiere, it was that realistic.
• So did Caesar actually eat the guy's finger?  I couldn't figure that out.
• I liked all of the ways that they showed the "rise" of the apes.
• Loved all of the homages to the original series.  I didn't understand that Mars and Lost in Space references because I don't remember much, but Caesar playing with the Statue of Liberty (didn't notice that the 1st time), and His Heston-ness on the screen got me giggling, as did his most famous line.
• I liked how the apes used the zoo fencing as spears.  Genius!
• If I learned one thing from this movie, it is this:  There is more than one way to cross a bridge.  BTW, NICE use of the Golden Gate!  Love it.
• I cried three times at the first viewing,once at the second.  Yes, there was the animal cruelty part, but there were also those emotions I felt for Caesar.  Uh-oh, here I go again.
• Aw, Buck.  Or, as the kid behind me and the voice in my head called him, "KONG!" 

My one-word-in-five-emphatic-syllables review on twitter:  "OUT.FUCKING.STANDING."

Please go see this movie yourself, so that I am not the only one funding 20th Century Fox in order to convince them that there needs to be a sequel, because I want to see what happened to Cornelia.  Thank you.  :)