Today marks exactly one month before the latest installment in 20th Century Fox's reboot of the Planet of the Apes saga hits theaters; War for the Planet of the Apes. Despite praise for its makeup effects and choreography, 2001's Planet of the Apes remake directed by Tim Burton was received poorly by critics and fans who felt the movies convoluted plot did not continue the theme of the original movie series that began with 1968's classic Planet of the Apes. In 2011, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, director Rupert Wyatt and stars James Franco, Jon Lithgow and Andy Serkis reimagined the classic tale of the Planet of the Apes by retelling the story from the very beginning and returning to the theme of the original movie series; that mankind is its own greatest enemy.
By removing the time travel element of 1971's Escape from the Planet of the Apes and telling the events as they would have originally occurred 20th Century Fox was able to successfully reboot its Planet of the Apes movie franchise. Through the use of cutting-edge motion performance capture technology directors, Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves have chronicled the apes rise to dominance and power following the outbreak of Simian flu, which proves fatal to most humans while conversely increasing intelligence in apes. Ironically the Simian flu started life as ALZ-113; a chemical agent intended to cure the mentally crippling effects of Alzheimer's. Raised by human's Caesar was born with increased mental capacity as a result of scientists testing ALZ-113's predecessor on his mother while she was pregnant.
Following the release of ALZ-113 Caesar and a loyal group of apes sought independence and freedom as humankind was brought to the brink of extinction. A group of human survivors happened across Caesar's territory and inevitably conflict arose marking the start of the War for the Planet of the Apes. Compassionate to humans Caesar finds himself leading his kindred into a war he never wanted and fought to avoid, against a human force commanded by a battle hardened Colonel (Woody Harrelson) intent on Caesar's destruction.
With Director Matt Reeves and his creative team returning there are high hopes that War for the Planet of the Apes will continue in the vein of its predecessors Rise and Dawn, each of which has proved to be critical and commercial successes, and one of the few movie franchises of the past decade worth watching.
