Planet of the Apes Harry Potter7

Product Description

After a spectacular crash-landing on an uncharted planet, brash astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) finds himself trapped in a savage world where talking apes dominate the human race. Desperate to find a way home, Leo must evade the invincible gorilla army led by ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) and his most trusted warrior, Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan). Now the pulse-pounding race is on to reach a sacred temple that may hold the shocking secrets of mankind's past - and the last hope for it's salvation!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32323 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-11-20
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.com
Billed as a "reimagining" of the original 1968 film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honorable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape makeup (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal--the dominance of apes over humans--into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right.

While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
The DVD release of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes is so loaded that the second disc needs six screens to list all of the features--or maybe it's just an excuse to show off the great-looking animated menus. The most interesting features are six substantial documentaries about aspects of the filming, including examinations of how the apes run and a spotlight on Lake Powell, where both this film and the 1968 original were shot. The "enhanced viewing mode" on disc 1 is fun: picture-in-picture video segments offer actor comments or shots of sets and miniatures, and Easter eggs provide access to even more background on the visual effects. There's also a commentary track by Burton (he had to be convinced to remake Apes) and another one with isolated score by composer Danny Elfman, discussing how he works with frequent collaborator Burton and the current state of film composing. But don't expect Burton to give an explanation of the film's much-discussed conclusion, and no alternate ending appears among the DVD's five rather routine extended scenes. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Tim Burton's Folly
While it is often a mistake to compare remakes to the original film, I will gloss over the mediocrity of Mark Wahlberg's performance and focus on what concerns me most. When this film was made, Charlton Heston, who gives an outstanding but unbilled performance as a dying simian patriach, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. In short, he was a man dying from a terribel. To cast him as a dying man was both egregiously cruel and insensitive. Shame on Tim Burton!

Lacks the Punch of the Original
There are so many good things about this "re-imagining" of THE PLANET OF THE APES but it just doesn't have the creative punch of the original. It's unfair to say that because, of course, everyone is familiar with the 1968 sci-fi classic that spawned several sequels and a TV series so there's no way around that popularity.

The opening space sequence was too long. The story awkwardly shifted gears several times. The final battle felt contrived and the aftermath was terse and predictable (I'm sorry but I'd staying on whatever planet had Estella Warren in a skimpy loincloth). And the final scene--meant as a homage to the original Rod Serling penned whammy ending--only left me scratching my head.

But the makeup is amazing. Top notch production values. Fun to see Charlton Heston in a cameo (and hear famaliar lines from his version).

Just didn't come close to the original.

Planet with a twist.
I did not think I was going to like this on Blu-Ray, but I did.
I enjoyed the story with its better picture quality on my studio HDTV system (PS3). Good action and a good story line. Hope they make another followup. The end has a great twist to it.