Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 American science fiction film directed by Rupert Wyatt and starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, and Andy Serkis. Written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, it is 20th Century Fox's reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, intended to act as an origin story for a new series of films.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was released on August 5, 2011, to critical and commercial success. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It was also nominated for five Saturn Awards including Best Director for Wyatt and Best Writing for Jaffa and Silver, winning Best Science Fiction Film, Best Supporting Actor for Serkis and Best Special Effects. A sequel to the film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, was released on July 11, 2014, and a third film, War for the Planet of the Apes, was released on July 14, 2017.

Plot
Will Rodman, a scientist in San Francisco, is experimenting with a drug that he hopes will cure his father's Alzheimer's disease. After his work is deemed a failure, Will becomes the guardian of Caesar, an infant chimp who was exposed in-utero to Will's drug. Caesar displays unusual intelligence, and Will decides to continue his experiments secretly. But as Caesar's intellect and abilities grow, he comes to represent a threat to man's dominion over Earth.

Why It Rises

 * 1) Incredible CGI motion capture on the apes.
 * 2) Andy Serkis was great as the ape, Caesar, who went from a socially distant chimpanzee to a fearless intelligent one to humanize.
 * 3) It shows the origin story of how the apes are intelligent never before seen in the original novel.
 * 4) Great performances by James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow and David Oyelowo.
 * 5) Amazing action scenes.
 * 6) Cool soundtrack.
 * 7) Great callbacks from the original films like “Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!”.
 * 8) The scene where Caesar says "No!" is the best scene of the entire movie.
 * 9) Cliffhanger ending where the apes escape and the flu travels through the world.

Trivia

 * Maurice the orangutan was inspired by Towan (1968-2016), a male hybrid orangutan whom lived at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. You can read more about it here!