Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review.

No monkeying around, as we review Dawn of the Planet of the Apes!

This weekend I went and saw the new Planet of the Apes film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  A continuation of the last film, albeit after a 10 year jump, we find out how the apes and humans are doing following the virus outbreak shown at the end of Rise.  The humans, lead by Gary “I’m secretely everyone” Oldman, and the Apes, led by Caesar (portrayed by Andy “Secretly every animal” Serkis) manage to co-exist living so close to each other by using that tried and true method of not knowing the other group exists.  Things change when a group of humans decide to tromp through the forest, and get worse (both here and several more times later in the film) when a panicky asshat with a gun decides the best course of action is to shoot someone.

The whole film is really enjoyable, and it’s nice seeing how the apes are doing after 10 years of freedom.  It’s nice seeing everything they’ve built, and how their culture is developing after freeing themselves from the lab and zoo in the previous film.  The FX team deserve props for the work they did for this film, as all the apes in the film are well done, especially as some of the scenes feature apes in the rain and apes near/in front of fire.

The main complain I have with the film is not being able to completely make out what the apes are saying.  Most of the time they’re relatively clear, but there’s a few instances where I had to rely on the response to figure out what was said.

The film ends with a sequel hook, things are going to get worse, and the sequel has a tentative release date of July 29, 2016.

If you’re a fan of stingers, you’ll be a bit let down here, with only a few sound effects as the credits end.

Overall, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a film I’d definitely recommend seeing if you can get the chance.