Rupert Wyatt’s ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ is the 7th film based on Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes. This new Planet of the Apes sequel returns the Apes to the screen 10 years after Tim Burton’s 2001 version of Planet of the Apes (a remake of Franklin Schaffner’s original 1968 screen adaption of Boulle’s novel). The big question is will this version be as successful as the original which despite laughable sci fi techniques managed to spawn 4 sequels, 2 TV series, comic books and a plethora of merchandise? Will the sometimes endearing, sometimes menacing, horrifying connection between the Apes and ourselves be reestablished and generate a story that manages to capture the hearts and imagination of new audiences?

Can James Franco and Frieda Pinto withstand this new onslaught of intelligent Apes, lead by Caesar, the chimp and descendant of the original ‘Adam and Eve’ apes Zina and Cornelius, from “Escape From the Planet of the Apes” (1971)? In case you do not remember the story, in the sequel ‘Escape From the Planet of the Apes’, we have managed to destroy Earth but these two chimp scientists manage to escape before the armageddon and return to a 1970′s planet Earth. The earthlings – ourselves – are very unwelcoming of these intelligent super Apes and treat them horribly. Fast forward to now when Caesar, the highly intelligent descendant is now bent on taking over Earth and removing humans in his way. Will the embellishments of cutting edge performance capture technology and deluxe special effects support the telling of a story we will find provocative, engaging and disturbing? Will ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ cause us to reflect on our human condition, recognize emotions and actions that convince us of our human frailty and weakness and our need to evolve?