Planet Of The Apes review

"Somewhere in the universe, there must be something better than man!" was the intriguing proposition that heralded the release of the original Planet Of The Apes thirty-three years ago. This time the trite tag line states, "Take back the planet". It's an indication that any comparisons between the two films will inevitably leave the latter coming up short.

The decision to entrust Tim Burton with directing the remake, or reimagining as it's been called, was a contentious one. The director's distinctly peculiar and dark vision has been a trademark of his films like Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. And while there are few who question his imaginative talents, there were plenty who wondered whether he was the right man to bring the Planet Of The Apes phenomenon back to life. It turns out that such scepticism was well founded as evidenced by the confused and un-engaging result.

Quite how to "reimagine" the story appears to be the film's fundamental problem. Corny gags that seem jarringly out of place in such a setting continually undermine its attempts at more serious sociological comment. Having one ape attributing her woes to "a bad hair day" or another take off its toupee and place its false teeth in a bedside jar before retiring for the night, might seem amusing twists on clichéd human behaviour, but given the film's loftier intentions, such asides appear ludicrous.

One of the most memorable features of the original was the brilliant make-up. Given that the more sophisticated prosthetic techniques available today are able to render even more convincing apes, it's ironic that the most memorable image of the new version is the disquieting way in which Helena Bonham Carter's simian character Ari resembles Michael Jackson.

The story centers on Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg), an astronaut based on a space station who is doing research into ape intelligence. When an ape-manned craft goes missing in an electro magnetic storm, Davidson goes to the chimp's rescue but too finds himself in trouble before crashing on a distant planet. Emerging unscathed except for his outfit that now resembles a chic creation from Gaultier's apocalyptic collection, he is quickly running for his life along with other humanoids before being captured by the ruling apes.

Fearful of being overrun by the humans, the evil General Thade (Tim Roth), who expresses his contempt for his captives by declaring "everything in the human culture takes place below the waste", promises to eradicate them from the planet. Davidson prompts a small group to escape, helped by the Senator's daughter Ari who is sympathetic to the humans' cause and enamoured of their newly adopted leader. The group, which includes the alluring if vacuous Daena (Estella Warren) and her father Karubi (Kris Kristofferson), find themselves being pursued by Thade and his troops while Davidson tries to figure out a way of returning to his world.

The idea of what would happen if the tables were turned and apes rather than man ruled the world was an absorbing one as told in Pierre Boulle's novel Monkey Planet on which the films were based. Planet Of The Apes is punctuated throughout with meaningful barbs on man's mistreatment of animals and its environment. With Ari stating "It's disgusting the way they treat humans, it demeans us as much as it does them", the film's message is clear, what is less obvious is a sense of drama and a compelling story.

While the stunning make-up failed to disguise Tim Roth's sadistic enjoyment in the role of Thade, Wahlberg seems altogether too real to operate in such a fictitious world although his understated strength at least gave his character some credibility. The temptation of an actor to overact when hiding behind a mask is not one that is easy to resist. It's certainly not one that many here could, with Paul Giamatti's broad performance resembling more that of a stand up comic than the slave trader Limbo he was portraying.

To Burton's credit, the look of the film at times was striking. His penchant for moody and fantastic sets was given full reign, but unfortunately that was never enough to sustain interest. Before long I yearned to jump in Davidson's spacecraft and fly forward in time. The ending provided a poignant reminder that there is fundamentally little difference between apes and man, but I dare to suggest that given the budget and resources available, even an ape might have made a better movie than this.