Movie Review: Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.

After seven years and a change in ownership, the Planet of the Apes franchise returns in an all-new setting. Set generations after the previous film, War for the Planet of the Apes, the new Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes movie follows a new protagonist in a world where human civilization is a forgotten memory. 

Director Wes Ball takes over from Matt Reeves, who helmed the previous two films. In what is meant to be the start of a possible new trilogy, it will have to fight an uphill battle compared to its predecessors. Does it stay faithful to the source mercurial, or does it veer off course? Let’s find out.



Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee from a tribe of bird trainers, sets off on a journey to rescue his tribe after they are taken by a war band serving the film’s main villain, Proximus (Kevin Durand). On his journey, he comes across a wise orangoutang named Raka (Peter Macon) and a human girl named Mae (Freya Allan) who possesses the ability to talk.

Proximus, believing himself the new ruler of apes, plans to build an empire using technology stored in a massive doomsday vault. The heroes must prevent the weapons from falling into Proximus’ hands and fight for a future where humans and apes can coexist. 



The film is definitely something that fans of the last trilogy will enjoy. It keeps with the themes and presentation that were given there while advancing the story. Many of the characters are memorable, and there is definitely plenty of action. There are also a number of callbacks to the 1968 original for those hardcore fans out there.

The film follows the previous in terms of its motion capture aesthetic. In many still shots, the characters look photorealistic. But in certain motions and actions, you can tell that they are computer-generated. Sometimes, you might wish for a return to prosthetics, as the 2001 version had unbelievably good makeup. 

In terms of the story, this is, once again, mainly from the apes’ perspective. There isn’t a balance between the two factions in these newer films. There are only so many times you can say “humans are bad” and it not get stale.

The last major issue is its runtime. Lasting a total of two hours and twenty-five minutes you definitely feel the film’s length in certain scenes. They always seem to dwell on certain things and take long pauses that unfortunately just slow the pacing down. There are definitely scenes worth watching in here, but you will have to push through the slow stuff to get to it.



Overall Rating: 7/10

Definitely, something both fans of the “Planet of the Apes” films and general science fiction fans will enjoy. It’s a more engaging story than the rival franchise, Avatar. You just have to get through some slow sequences to get to the good bits. Make sure not to drink a lot before the movie or you will miss some stuff.

We will see if this will breathe new life into the franchise under the ownership of Disney. Hopefully, we will eventually evolve into something resembling the 1968 original.