Review of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

Mess with Mother Nature and things could get a little hairy.

That's the none-too-subtle but still effective message at the heart of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," a prequel that doesn't monkey around.

The problem with prequels, of course, is you know where they're going; the intrigue is you can't be sure how they're going to get there.

"Rise" offers some fairly credible background to the notion that Earth will one day be ruled by hairy simians that keep humans as slaves, topped off by a shrieking-crazy apes-gone-wild in San Francisco climax. Mayhem lovers should be pleased.

As is so common in today's techno freaked-out world, the bad results here come from good scientific intentions. James Franco stars as Will Rodman, a Bay Area scientist hoping to find a cure for the dementia his father (John Lithgow) suffers from.

To this end, Will has been injecting chimpanzees with a serum intended to generate cell growth in their brains. Of course, Will works for a chrome-and-glass corporation that hopes to make zillions off the new drug some day.

Will thinks he's struck gold with one chimp, Bright Eyes, who exhibits an extraordinary leap in intelligence. But then Bright Eyes goes wild, attacking her keepers, and has to be put down.

Initially, Will thinks the drug is tainted, but then a baby chimp is discovered in Bright Eyes' cage. The mother was just protecting her newborn.

With nobody around to protect the baby chimp, Will ends up taking him home and naming him Caesar — and darned if the little Dickens doesn't turn out to be brilliant, just like his mother.

Logic falters here a bit as Will sets to work on an improved serum even though Bright Eyes' rage was not drug-fueled. But this gives Caesar time to grow and strut his stuff.

Will too conveniently meets and falls in love with a beautiful veterinarian named Caroline (Freida Pinto), and Caesar sort of becomes their surrogate son. Meanwhile, Will is secretly administering his new formula to his father and the man's dementia not only goes away, he actually becomes smarter than ever.

But then it all falls apart, as it must.

It turns out keeping a full-grown super-intelligent chimpanzee in a neighborhood Victorian isn't a great idea, and Caesar runs afoul of the law. He's taken to a shelter for abandoned apes where he learns all about both survival of the fittest and human cruelty.

At which point, Caesar decides he's had enough of this monkey business. And the Evolution Revolution begins.

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" doesn't have much use for humans. From the corporate ruler to the shelter workers (specifically Tom Felton, Harry Potter's blonde nemesis) to the neighbor next door, most of the people Caesar encounters are jerks or worse. And even the good guys are made of cardboard. Caroline is a pretty cipher, Lithgow is your classic doddering Dad, and Franco's Will is a simple ball of earnestness.

But really, it's all about the apes, wondrous (and scary) computer creations, and waiting for their rampage, which director Rupert Wyatt turns into an absolute blast of primate rage.

In the end, we humans lose, but then we humans should. Please pass the bananas.