When the second movie came along, I didn't have high expectations, but I was surprised at how much I liked it. James Franco did a very good job with a compelling story and a very well done bunch of CG monkeys, and it made me wonder why the first movie was so bad. It also made me wonder if they were going to invest in a sequel. Well, it turns out that a profit of about $400 million is a good motivation to make another movie.
The CG monkeys are still very good in this movie most of the time. The fact that they are on screen so much means that flaws in the algorithms becomes more and more clear, and each little flaw stands out more. When the monkeys start to fight each other, I found the animation to be completely unbelievable. They just didn't move naturally. I noticed the exact opposite when there is physical interaction with the humans - where the weight of the monkeys can be seen, and the movement is more natural.
The reliance of sign language for most of the movie, and then the switch to husky and grunty voices from the apes is a bit of a challenge at times. It makes me wish I had completed my training on learning sign, so I could understand a big portion of the movie. Yes, you usually get a general understanding of the conversation, but not always. And the fact that the apes can speak, but they choose not to speak much of the time, is an odd limitation that never really makes sense.
The movie centers on a power struggle inside the ape leadership and the differences between apes who are willing to help the humans (but don't really trust them) and the apes who don't trust and don't want to help them. The leader of the apes that are in favor of letting the humans exist is Caesar, the ape who starred in the last movie. He is featured heavily, and the animation, as previously mentioned, is very good.
Notable mention is Gary Oldman, who is one of the human leaders and is pretty self-evidently the best actor in the movie who isn't animated. Oh, also notable is the strange ability of apes to operate firearms and the infinite ammo that these guns have. The apes don't reload, they don't aim, and they have never practiced using weapons, but they all have good trigger discipline, excellent aim, and not one ever ran out of ammo.
CG is very good
Acting is good
Direction was okay
Story was good
Bottom Line: Not the greatest movie in the world, but certainly worth catching on Netflix or something.
3.25/5