Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Checked out "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" last night at a RPX / Atmos theater in 3D, and it was a fine presentation, and it didn't seem dimly lit, rather natural looking (some 3D fillms suffer from it in how the movie was filmed and lit). But you don't need the 3D to get much more visually out of the viewing experience. The Atmos audio system added a bit more to the aural ambience. Still not sure if it's worth the $5 upcharge, but my friends wanted to see it in RPX, so I went with it.

The film does a good job setting up the Apes food chain and players (as well as a handful of the human cast), while delving into bits of characterizations and motivations for their actions later to drive the plot. The CGI for the apes has pretty much seamless integration with the human actors on the screen, you simply accept all the ape characters as if they really existed while on the screen, Andy Serkis as Caesar anchors the film with leadership tempered by family concerns (both immediate and for all ape-dom) and forethought. The human characters suffer a little bit in their characterizations (but the film would have been 30 minutes longer, and it was already a wee bit long at 130 minutes).

Anyhow definitely check it out if you like the "Planet of the Apes" franchise, and even if you don't, it's still takes its time for the develop apes and the interpersonal relationships to incorporate character dynamics that makes for an entertaining film.

I will say, there are some scenes in the final act that rivaled the grimace I felt for the stunt men in "The Raid 2", and started feeling bad for the stunt-apes until I laughed and realized there were no stunt-apes in the making of the movie. LOL!

I gives it 3 stars, or a grade of B.