Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this, the legendary Roman Polanski likewise had the dumbest ending of his career in the movie "Femme Fatale" with Antonio Banderas.

Several weeks after the movie was released, Burton said he would not do a sequel to "Planet Of The Apes". It seems that Burton himself, knew that he messed up a perfectly good film and , proved that remakes of classic films should be left alone. I am big Tim Burton fan, but the remake of "Planet Of The Apes" is probably the worst film that he has done. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Even by the high standards of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, A Painted House is well above average. John Grisham's well-received "lawyer-free" novel was respectfully adapted by Patrick Sheane Duncan (Mr. Holland's Opus), and director Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate, A Walk in the Clouds) brings just the right touch of toughness and delicate nostalgia to Grisham's semi-autobiographical remembrance of boyhood in rural Arkansas, circa 1952. Grisham's alter ego is 10-year-old Luke Chandler (well played by Logan Lerman), and when tempers flare into violence between the Mexican migrant workers and itinerant "hill people" hired to harvest cotton on his grandfather's farm, Luke--who has witnessed a murder--must decide whether to expose the killer or keep the crime a secret. Filled with warm grace notes and a perfect cast including leather-faced Scott Glenn and Melinda Dillon (as Luke's grandparents), A Painted House juggles multiple crises (including devastating rainstorms) with strong family values, capturing the humor and hardship of farming life at a crossroads of fading tradition and inevitable change. Combining elements of To Kill a Mockingbird and Places in the Heart, this is a purebred Hallmark production in every respect, earning a badge of pride for everyone involved in its making. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great movie, great acting, Logan Lerman is a standout!
I haven't read the book, but as a movie, I was really impressed. Logan Lerman really shines, he really puts life into Luke. I really enjoyed getting lost into this movie and the acting made it easy to feel what they were feeling. A wonderful movie about a boy dealing with life, problems, yet still being a kid, a farm family trying to survive. I've found that when books are turned into movies, they often have many differnces from the books, so I try to view the movie separate from the book on it's own terms. The Painted House tells a story, and has feeling. Perfect, no, enjoyable, definately!!

A major disappointment
This was one of my favorite John Grisham books. When I learned it was a movie I could not wait to see it. Now that I have seen the movie I wish they never made it. It has the worst narration I have ever heard. The narrator spoke with no feeling or emotion and you could clearly tell he was reading from a script. I guess you can't expect much from a made for TV movie but I was expecting more. Great parts of the book were left out and the actors did a fair job portraying people that were so clearly defined in the book. I wonder if they even read the book?

one talented actor
My family and I enjoyed this movie. The story line was good and was a pretty clean movie for family entertainment. The actor we enjoyed the most will be missed if you are not looking for him, but about one fourth of the way through the movie he runs up to the movie theater and says "there's a fight behind the co-op". Then he appears in the fight scene a few more times, watch for him, his presence explodes on to the film and by far is the most impressive actor in the movie! Buy several copies of this movie to give as gifts and share this undiscovered talent with others! ... Read more

Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this, the legendary Roman Polanski likewise had the dumbest ending of his career in the movie "Femme Fatale" with Antonio Banderas.

Several weeks after the movie was released, Burton said he would not do a sequel to "Planet Of The Apes". It seems that Burton himself, knew that he messed up a perfectly good film and , proved that remakes of classic films should be left alone. I am big Tim Burton fan, but the remake of "Planet Of The Apes" is probably the worst film that he has done. ... Read more

Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this, the legendary Roman Polanski likewise had the dumbest ending of his career in the movie "Femme Fatale" with Antonio Banderas.

Several weeks after the movie was released, Burton said he would not do a sequel to "Planet Of The Apes". It seems that Burton himself, knew that he messed up a perfectly good film and , proved that remakes of classic films should be left alone. I am big Tim Burton fan, but the remake of "Planet Of The Apes" is probably the worst film that he has done. ... Read more

Reviews (667)

Good movie, packed DVD
Why 5 stars? Well I looked at what everyone else was writing, and as far as their complaints go, they seemed to be frustrated with some dialogue issues and logistics in the characters. I saw most of the original Planet of the Ape films, and while they were fascinating, they didn't quite stack up to this.

The dialogue, were it was corny "Get you stinking hand off me" was one of a few inside jokes within the movie that was a referrence to a Charlton Heston line in Planet of the Apes. As I recall this was the first line the Apes spoke in the film (as Attar demonstrated). Heston spoke those same words (from a different point of view) to the apes when he was captured, much to their surprise. There a quite a few inside jokes in the movie. So you need to be familiar with th first film to appreciate this one.

It also makes intriguing referrences to cultural issues of the past, in particular, slavery, using humans and apes. Course there is more to the story. Planet of the Apes was always breaching ground for Civil Rights. This was a more emphatic example.

The costumes and special affects were stellar. Definitely two Oscars will nodded for makeup and costumes. Tim Burton did a good job in directing and respects go to the screenwriter for his visions. THis was a labor 12 years in the making with numerous names attached (Arnold S. and Oliver Stone at one time).

The DVD is loaded with everything you could want. I got some kind of limited edition CD-Rom. Not sure if everyone else got it, but it offers cast interviews as well. I and my parents enjoyed it, so good for the 20- somethings and 50- somethings..

Not a remake of the original but a totally different story
First let start off by saying that this is not a remake of the 1968 classic but a totally different telling of the story. I respect Tim Burton for not trying to do your basic remake, which consists of updated special effects but the same story. The story in this movie is entirely different than the original. Other than the fact that Apes are involved there are very few similarities. The story is well thought out and keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Tim Burton also knew that Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston, so he kept his dialogue to a minimal. Actually Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clark have more dialogue in the movie than Wahlberg does. Rick Baker does an outstanding job with the makeup, which allows the actors facial expressions to come through which is key for this type of movie. I will not ruin the ending but will tell you that it is unique and as unexpected as the first one was in 1968. Now onto the DVD, the Anamorphic transfer is flawless and the DTS 5.1 soundtrack is superb. The video shows no signs of edge enhancement, artifacting, or color bleeds. The blacks are deep and rich and all the colors are vibrant. The DTS 5.1 audio track is just awesome; it utilizes the rears and subwoofer frequently. All dialogue is focused on the center channel and is well balanced. The DVD has more special features than any other DVD to date. There are at least 6 documentaries, a "first person" point of view feature, and all the other normal fanfare that comes with a special edition DVD. This by far and wide is Fox's best DVD to date as it pertains to special features.

not a very good version
this is tim burtons adaption of the original movie from 68.the story strays way off course from the original but is way funnier.marky mark stars in it.oh yeah!now will take it seriously.as if it wasnt bad enough we were watching a bad remake of an old classic,now it stars one of the worst bands in histories brothers.bbbboooooooooooooo!the kids will like it.tim burton directed it.besides the lack of keeping with the original and bad casting,this movie is good.it is a disapointment from a lot of his far better movies though.there are a lot of racial undertones in it.they are done in a funny way.is this even possible?its kind of a down but still manages a 3 star rating due to tim burtons masterful save.

loved it!
I'm an "Apes" kid who grew up on Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Return To The Planet Of the Apes animated series, The Planet Of The Apes comic book series, The Planet Of The Apes TV series, The Planet Of The Apes novel...I loved all of this Apes stuff. Why? Because it was FUN. Sadly it seems those days are gone for good and their ain't too many folks left who get the fun of these sort of things. It's clear that Tim Burton still gets it. He obviously loves the Apes movies and he grew up with all of those same movies and fun Ape toys that I did. His version is a loving tribute to that period of time in his childhood when the whole world seemed to have gone ape. He's even thrown in an ending that's not unlike the ending of the original novel. That novel inspired the movies, but none of them tried to stay true to that idea until Burton's version. Burton is obviously a fan of the Apes craze that made many a youngster want to battle talking apes or be talking apes. He captures that sense of wonder that many of us experienced in our Ape invaded youth, but he also doesn't take the whole thing too damn seriously. There are plenty of laughs here too. It's a big fun talking Apes movie that's just as much FUN as the ones that so many of us loved in the old days. I wondered, laughed, marveled, and had a great time being a kid again. I couldn't have asked for anything more. If Burton hadn't directed this thing I'm sure I would have got a hell of a lot less. Burton "gets" FUN.

(...)
am a big Tim Burton fan, I've practically seen
all his movies: "Batman" , "Sleepy Hollow", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare before Christmas" are the Directors best works to name a few.

But when I first heard, that Director Tim Burton
was going to make a remake of the original classic sci fi movie "Planet Of The Apes" with Charlton Heston, I was skeptical. Everyone knows that remakes of classic movies 90% of the time, plain suck. The movie remake of "Psycho" is a good example. I was further skeptical that Tim Burton's remake would equal the success of the original because all the ideas thought possible were used for the "Planet Of The Apes" series and movies.

Apes going into space, an Ape's son taking over the world, and even mutant beings are just a couple of the ideas that were used for the four sequels and 2 television series that wanted to profit of the 1968 film. Now after watching the film , my gut instinct told me I was right. The New version of Planet of The Apes is highlly predictable, copying a large bulk of material from the original, with brief differences.

Probably the biggest problem is that this movie itself has is the lame, and dumbest ending I've seen. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. It makes me laugh more because this was a Tim Burton film. In fact, the ending looks like it was written by a 13 yr old, who has too many cheap sci fi films with bad endings. The end of the film, lets you down with an incredibly stupid ending that makes you feel like you wasted time watching it.

Even Tim Burton commented after the film, that he would not make another sequel. Apparently, even he knew that his movie failed. Now my review of the film:
Planet of The Apes starts with great visual effects,
as we learn that an Air Force Space Station has occupied the universe. Mark Walhberg plays Captain Leo Davidson,
who is teaching scientific chimps how to pilot space vessels for research. Basically, the chimps are sent as probes , if you will, to uncharted planets. However, something goes wrong, and the head chimp, gets lost on a voyage to a planet. Davidson, caring for the chimp, disobeys orders and goes after him.
Now then comes the copying of the original film into the remake,but Burton tries his best or worst to not make it look like a copycat film.

Davidson is eventually captured by the Apes of the Planet. Just like the original film, the Apes personality traits are split by class. The warriors are made mostly of Apes and Gorillas. The lying and cunniving politicians are made up of Urangantans. While the more sympathetic apes relate more to the chimp class.

In the original fim, Charlton Heston has the famous line that all fans know when he is captured by the Apes:
"Let go of me you damn dirty ape".

However, Burton changes the script to not copy the original. In the remake, it is the ape who use a line similiar to this:

"Let go of me you damn dirty human"

Lol. I laughed for a while when I saw this.
It's just a very dumb scene. Because even Burton changed the lines, it's still trying to copy that classic scene from the original. Anyways Davidson is captured and eventually meets the head Ape of the planet. Davidson is eventually put into the lines of human slaves that the apes have. Here also Burton tries to add differences between this film and the original. If you recall in the original, Charlton Heston was the only human who could think and talk, while all the over humans either had labotomies or had their throats cut out.

This made Heston's character, Taylor, much more unique and dangerous to the apes. In the remake though, Burton makes it so all humans can talk. This made Walhberg's character not as unique and dangerous, as the original Heston characterm, hell it made him average, not standing out from the crowd.

Tim Roth, plays the evil General Thade who is the military dictator in control of the planet. For the most part, Roth's part is admirable, he does display that aura of intimidation and fear, that all villians in the movie have, but all of this is ripped to shreds by the horrible ending of the film.
Eventually Davidson and the rest of his human and ape friends stage a revolt against General Thade to see who will rule the planet.

This is actually one of the few good points of the film,Burton gives you the hope that things will turn out the best in the end, but not necessarily... Without giving away the ending of the film, all I can say is that it is one of the cheesiest, dumbest endings I've seen!!! In fact, my first reaction to the ending was disbelief, followed by sheer laughter. I couldn't believe that Burton had done that type of ending. The ending reminds me of those low budget, cheap sci fi endings from the 1950's and 60's. If I wanted to see sci fi movies with a cheap , laughable, ending I would watched the reruns of "Mystery Science Theater 3000"!!.

What upsets me about the ending, is that before the ending, we are lead to believe that the movie is going to end one way. In fact, if the movie ended up the way I thought it was going to end, I would have given it a perfect 10!!! But Burton (I don't know what he was thinking)sabotages, the good film with a cheap ending, that leaves you feeling rip-offed. He is not the only guy to do this, the legendary Roman Polanski likewise had the dumbest ending of his career in the movie "Femme Fatale" with Antonio Banderas.

Several weeks after the movie was released, Burton said he would not do a sequel to "Planet Of The Apes". It seems that Burton himself, knew that he messed up a perfectly good film and , proved that remakes of classic films should be left alone. I am big Tim Burton fan, but the remake of "Planet Of The Apes" is probably the worst film that he has done. ... Read more