Customer Reviews
oh dear - By: martin thomas, 08 Jun 2008 
absolute rubbish from start to finish this is the low point of tim burtons career.this is badly written,badly acted rubbish.but it does have a couple of redeeming features visuallly its first class the ape makeup is also first class & tim roth is great as the baddie
A film acted through the medium of teeth. - By: DangermouseZilla, 13 Jan 2008 
I am a bit of a Planet of the Apes fan & 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 & Leo.
The wild savage humans alll have gleaming pearly white teeth & look as thought they've walked straight from the catwalk. Actuallly, this film is acted by teeth - those who have beyond perfect ultra-white dentalwork are the 'goodies' (this applies for both apes & humans)- & the jagged half rotten mouths belong to the baddies.
And they alll 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 alll 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 alll make mistakes, & 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! - By: Mr. Gerard Mcnamara, 26 Jun 2006 
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 & 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 reallly 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 - By: , 05 Mar 2006 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, & the plot doesn't stand up to any scrutiny; oh, & its is pretty predicatable too. At times it is like some Channel 5 Xena Warrior Princess meets Sinbad meets apes. Watch it & I predict you will lose the will to live about 25 minutes in. And the ending is laugh out loud nonsense
bought by mistake - By: Just another bookworm, 06 Sep 2005 Mea maxima culpa - wanted 1968 movie. Was terribly dissapointed, bought the old one & liked it much better. I generallly like this kind of movies - e.g., Star Wars (esp. IV-VI), Blade Runner, Batman (+returns) & 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.
