5 out of 5 stars
Family appropriateness rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Moderate amount of language including one f-word
-Non-gory action violence throughout including guns. One gun shot wound is shown, but it is not gory.
-The character design of Koba might be frightening to some younger audiences.
-I rated this up in family appropriateness because it has themes that family's might appreciate.
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" does for the "Apes" franchise what "The Dark Knight" did for Batman. Not only does it push the characters from the previous film forward, it presents a story that stands on its own and gives insight into human nature.
It has been years since the events of the first film. Many humans have died off from a deadly virus brought about by an experimental drug that was tested on an ape named Caeser (Andy Serkis), who became highly intelligent because of it. He gave the drug to a bunch of other apes, and they all gained the same intelligence. Having rebelled against the humans, they now live in a forest colony outside San Fransicso.
Caeser is the leader of them. He is now more mature, having spent years as the one responsible for who he considers his family. He is also much wiser than the rest because he has had a deep, personal connection with humans. His experiences have led him to the knowledge that there is both good and bad in humanity.
Not every ape understands this. There is one named Koba (Toby Kebbell) who had been tortured by humans before the rebellion. He has only seen the ugly side of humanity, and he thinks they are all awful.
For years, the humans and apes have been living separate lives. This changes one day when some humans unknowingly stumble onto ape territory. Humans are running out of electricity in their colony located within the city, and they know there is a dam around the area that could provide hydroelectric power. They want to find a way to turn it on. However, it is in the ape colony and some apes -- such as Koba -- do not have a lot of trust in humans.
Caeser agrees to let a few humans stay for three days to figure out how to turn the dam on. His condition is they cannot have guns in the area. Malcolm (Jason Clarke), the leader of these few humans, honors Caeser's request. However, not all of the humans respect the apes like Malcolm. Complications arise because of this and because of Koba's distrust.
This film explains one of the biggest problems in modern-day society. It is about the dangers of stereotyping. Not only does Koba think all humans are bad, one of the humans named Carver (Kirk Acevedo) also blames all apes to be the root cause of his problems. Most of the characters -- both apes and humans -- want to avoid killing each other, but there are those few on both sides who believe the other needs to be eliminated.
This is the same thing that happened around 9/11. On that day in 2001, there were a few Muslims who hated Americans and resorted to killing a lot of them. A lot of Americans became angry at all Muslims, thinking they were evil people, and the religious group underwent a lot of persecution because of it. My own experience has led me to believe they are generally peaceful people. Not all of them would even dream of doing something as horrific as what was done that day. It is just a few that cause problems. Likewise, only some Americans overgeneralized their hate to encompass all Muslims.
What is amazing about both "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is how much characterization is given to the animals. Both films are more about the apes than they are about the humans, and it is just as engaging as it would have been the other way around. There is also a decent amount of development given to Malcolm. This makes it engaging because during the climax, there is enough emotional investment on both sides to make the audience generally concerned about what happens.
The characterization of the apes could not be accomplished as potently as it is without the use of motion capture technology. The animation is done using real actors, and their facial expressions look very real. There is one scene in the beginning when Caeser meets his newborn son, and it is very powerful because the look of happiness on his face is so clear.
Andy Serkis is the one who does the actions and voice for Caeser. He is notable for doing a lot of motion capture roles, his most famous being Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings" movies. He has been trying to get the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create an Oscar category for motion capture. While I do not agree there is enough movies shot that way to justify an entire category, he deserves to be nominated for best actor in a leading role for this movie.
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