TRAILER: James Franco's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

PLOT: An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

CAST: James Franco, Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Tyler Labine ("Mad Love")

VERDICT: I was a little disappointed when I heard about this prequel to The Planet of the Apes. I mean, Mark Wahlberg's 2001 film wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but I was kind of hoping for a sequel after that twist ending. Plus, it's just difficult to explain how a bunch of monkeys took over the world. The trailer, however, gives a valid reasoning. As usual, humans fucked with nature and screwed themselves over. Franco takes on the American mad scientist role. Pinto plays the voice of reason from a foreign land. All of it seems to amount to a potentially great visual action film. But so far, ape-wise, it just looks like several mini-King Kongs taking over the city. Or rather, King Kong meets Jumanji. I'm waiting for the trailer that shows more of the human-like ape that is shown in the last five seconds. The savage, tree-climbing, murderous apes are expected, so I want to see them walk and show signs of understanding and scheming. I want to see proof that they could actually overtake the world. So the jury's still out on whether I'll watch it in theaters.


Release Date: August 5