Sun, 26 Aug 2001

Now Showing

Planet of the Apes (Adventure/Sci-Fi/Action, 120 minutes). Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Giamatti, Kris Kristofferson, Charlton Heston. Directed by Tim Burton.

American astronaut Leo Davidson (Wahlberg) crash-lands on a planet where talking apes have enslaved humans. He is promptly caught by a slave trader, Limbo (Giamatti), and taken to Ape City, which is full of caves and tree houses.

Davidson shares a cage with Karubi (Kristofferson) and his beautiful daughter Daena (Estella Warren), who seems to have just had her lips and eyebrows done at the beauty parlor.

Just when Davidson is beginning to think he is doomed, an ape swings in to his rescue. Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) is the liberal daughter of a senator who thinks apes and humans should just get along.

This remake of the 1968 international phenomenon is campy and burdened by a lack of real thrill, and none of the apes are bright enough to make us believe they could have enslaved humans.**1/2