68
Metascore
39 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOrlando SentinelRoger MooreAudacious, violent and disquieting, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a summer sequel that's better than it has any right to be.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie has its pleasures, although human intelligence is not one of them. Caesar, to begin with, is a wonderfully executed character, a product of special effects and a motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis, who earlier gave us Gollum in "Lord of the Rings."
- 75The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsWyatt brings a light touch to the potentially grim material - too light when it drops in some groan-inducing references to the original film - but he keeps the action compelling whether focusing on apes as they run amok or as they quietly contemplate their next move.
- 70Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzArizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOnce you see that ape, named Caesar, riding a galloping horse in triumph, it's awfully hard not to get sucked in. It's not dumb fun, exactly. It's smart dumb fun.
- 70Thanks to stunning advances in performance capture technology, director Rupert Wyatt successfully ditches the cumbersome makeup appliances of past chapters, building the story around a cast of photoreal CG simians convincing enough to identify with as characters, rather than just special effects.
- 67Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe movie is zippier than Tim Burton's oddly lifeless 2001 "Planet of the Apes" remake, but unlike good sci-fi, it doesn't signify anything, or really even try to.
- 58Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallTampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeels like half of a good movie, much of it revealed in admittedly thrilling trailers.
- 50Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezJames Franco looks more bored and distracted in Rise of the Planet of the Apes than he did when he was hosting the Oscars: Watching the movie, I kept waiting for him to pull out his iPhone, aim it at the camera and take a snapshot while mugging sheepishly. Has there ever been a film with a less engaged protagonist?
- 50Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezLike the film that constrains him, a prequel to Planet of the Apes, perhaps James Franco understands his performance as something that will one day evolve into something far greater.
- 45MovielineStephanie ZacharekMovielineStephanie ZacharekToo earnest and dour to be a silly bit of summer fun, but it's not exactly scientifically sound, either.