July 2001: Film Preview: Planet of the Apes

Am curious to check out the 'Planet of the Apes' movie when it debuts
on Friday July 27th.  Of course I think that the 1970's flicks are
primo as they stand so am interested to see what improvements could
possibly be made- maybe the apes' lips move more freely instead of
being encumbered by some heavy latex mask with a few groovy CGI
effects thrown in. Big deal; I think the feel of a movie is more
important. I scrutinized these things when they were first out
at the drive-in <gasp> when many of you youngsters were mere ova,
so I know what I am ranting about, by cracky!

The series of films was a milestone in the history of science
fiction. Due to the PG-13 rating of the new film, I suspect that
the beautiful dark intensity of the original films will be lost
by cutting out the negativity and brutality to make way for the
cash of kids and promo toys. Even in the 70's, whiners and pansies
criticized the so-called 'bummer' ending of 'Beneath the Planet of
the Apes'. shee. James Franciscus, a true MAN, was hot in his sweaty
'Beneath the Planet of the Apes' loin cloth- can Ricky Martin even
compare? And the classic quotes from Charlton Heston, a real MAN,
Republican, and NRA member: 'get your stinking paws off me, you
damned, dirty ape' and 'damn you, damn you all to hell'- I will be
blown away if these can be surpassed.  But more power to Tim Burton
if he can reinterpret the story in a different yet substantial way.

more info:
Planet of the Apes *| http://us.imdb.com/Title?0133152
Official Site| http://www.planetoftheapes.com/
  (includes cheesy flash trailer)
Tagline: Rule the Planet
Releases | July 27th, 2001

Info from imdb.com and amazon.com:

Directed by Tim Burton, the upcoming _Planet of the Apes_ is not so
much a re-make of the 1968 classic with Charlton Heston, but a re-
interpretation.  Burton is attempting to defy comparison, instead
making this a very different Apes, with only small points where it
touches the original.

Burton also continues his association with former Oingo Boingo
frontman, Danny Elfman, who scored the pic.  Elfman, a double Oscar-
nominee in 1998 for his _Good Will Hunting_ and _Men in Black_
scores, has come a long way from the L.A. punk scene of the late
1970s that spawned his music career, but still retains a dark and
irreverent flavor in his work that tends to work very well with
Burton's sensibilities.

www.imdb.com summary by tim1370:

It is the year 2029: Astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) boards
a pod cruiser on a Space Station for a "routine" reconnaissance
mission. But an abrupt detour through a space time wormhole lands
him on a strange planet where talking apes rule over the human
race. With the help of a sympathetic chimpanzee activist named Ari
(Helena Bonham-Carter) and a small band of human rebels, Leo leads
the effort to evade the advancing Gorilla Army led by General Thade
(Tim Roth) and his most trusted warrior Attar (Michael Clarke
Duncan). Now the race is on to reach a sacred temple within the
planet's Forbidden Zone to discover the shocking secrets of mankind's
past - and the key to its future