Rise of the Planet Of The Apes - all CGI FX, no thank you

I saw the first trailer for the upcoming Planet Of The Apes prequel and I gotta say that not a single scene looked even remotely convincing.

Fully digital characters is a horrible idea and has not really worked yet. I'll take Roddy McDowell in prosthetic makeup any day, at least there's an ACTOR in there, with real facial expressions.

The farther along we go into this CGI wasteland the worse it gets.

That's why a film like MOON was so refreshing, using models and physical effects for the majority of the film.

Here's the trailer if you guys want to see what I'm talking about.

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As much as I want to like this movie (well, the concept at least), I know it will be disappointing. Most likely it will be a rental or cable viewing for me. I can't see going to a theater for this.

That trailer is slightly different than the one commercial I saw, but yea, something definatly looks "off" about the apes. The cgi/animation still isn't quite there yet.

I may be one of the few who actually liked Tim Burton's "Apes," but the ads I've seen for this new one don't do much for me. I'm sure I'll eventually check it out when it comes to RedBox but I'm in no hurry.

The fact that they're releasing the new "Apes" in August, which is considered to be the "dumping ground" month for movie studios, doesn't bode well for it either. Tradition has it that by that point in the Summer, all the big blockbuster movies are starting to play out so the studios just throw whatever leftover crap they've got laying around out to theatres in August to fill the calendar before they put up their Oscar-hopefuls starting in the Fall.

This summer has already been a wasteland for entertainment. There hasn't been a single movie come out that has gotten me into the theater (yet).

The only films I want to see are "Super 8" and John Carpenter's new film "The Ward". I haven't had a chance to catch either one yet. I'm waiting for "The Ward" to open up in some more theaters because so far it's only playing a single engagement here in Santa Monica.

They can keep all their Harry Potters and Transformers and Zookeeper crap.

I'm also curious about "Apollo 18".

There is simply no way studios will make any kind of fantasy/sci-fi type film and not use CGI to death.

Hell, some "regular" movies (like "sitcom" movies) use CGI for the surroundings. I saw a behind-the-scenes clip of some Kevin James movie one time not too long ago where they were filming a scene that was in a building with a lot of windows and when it shows the actual filming of that scene, there were people and some furniture, but the outer surroundings, where the big walls and windows would be, were all blue screen...

I don't have a problem with CGI being used for environments and in-animate objects, CGI mattes, that type of thing.

But the digital "characters" is where I have to draw the line, it's just not convincing, I know it's fake as soon as I see it and I can never connect to the film.

I am a big fan of the original Planet of the Apes movies and love the Burton take on the Apes, and honestly this doesn't look to be as bad as you guys are making it out to be. I think it's not something I'm all excited to go see in the theater but it is something I would want to watch. I think the CGI apes look kinda cool like video game cool, but if you can get past that part it may be a pretty decent film.

The whole Planet Of The Apes concept never really interested me, and the only one I've ever actually seen was Beneath The Planet of The Apes when I was still a wee headbanger.

I did see the trailer trash for this new movie though, and I have to say it looks pretty expertly shitty.

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There is simply no way studios will make any kind of fantasy/sci-fi type film and not use CGI to death.

That's why I'm hoping that Cowboys vs. Aliens film flops on it's tits, even though I know it won't. When the studios see that CGI elements, ie spaceships & aliens, can be inserted into anything (Old West), regardless of how much it does or doesn't make sense, all bets are off.

How about dinosaurs starting the Great Chicago Fire? Why not? Spaceships flying around England during the Jack the Ripper murders? Sure. Shark-to-pusses terrifing the Pilgrims on the Mayflower? Fuck yea, dude!

The possibilities are pointless endless.

On the "good CGI" front, Captain America was first rate. Nice mix of physical effects and CGI, handled realistically and not just for show.

I saw the trailer for Cowboys & Aliens right before and the effects looked cheesy and awful by comparison.

A friend went and saw it and she said the first hour was boring as hell.

S.D. wrote:

On the "good CGI" front, Captain America was first rate. Nice mix of physical effects and CGI, handled realistically and not just for show.

I saw the trailer for Cowboys & Aliens right before and the effects looked cheesy and awful by comparison.

but it's got Harrison Ford!