RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – The DVD Review

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES took a lot of movie geeks (including myself) by surprise this past summer. The film’s marketing and promotion were low-key and, especially after Tim Burton’s despised ’02 remake, expectations were in the gutter. The end result though was a surprisingly entertaining sci-fi thriller, both exciting and genuinely moving, thanks to a strong script, flawless special effects work and a typically terrific motion-capture performance from Andy Serkis as Caesar. It’s not difficult to notice that the apes were created with the help of a computer but the emotion they show and how their relationships advance during the movie is impressive. Now the film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray. I was only given the DVD to review the extras on and it’s a good example of how studios are short-changing their DVD releases in terms of extras in the hopes of pushing people towards buying the Blu-ray. For example, the Blu-Ray of RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES contains 17 deleted scenes. The DVD has exactly two. One, “Caesar Pushes Helicopter”, is simply the scene where Caesar kills the villainous David Oyelowo by pushing his crashed helicopter off the Golden Gate Bridge, but the CGI ape in this ‘deleted scene’ is not fully rendered. The other, “Koba with Shotgun”, shows the ape Koba strolling through the forest and, well, picking up a shotgun! While the Blu-Ray has the documentaries “New Generation of Apes”, “Breaking Motion Capture Boundaries”, “Breaking New Sound Barriers: The Music and Sound Design of Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, “Capturing Caesar- Script to Screen”, “Mythology of the Apes” and “The Genius of Andy Serkis”, the DVD has only the final two. “Mythology of the Apes” is seven minutes of various cast and crew members talking about how much they enjoyed the original Planet of the Apes films over clips from the old movies and the new one. “The Genius of Andy Serkis” is better. Footage of Serkis being filmed in his motion capture suit is played alongside a split-screen of the final scenes.It really makes you appreciate the way Serkis breathes like an ape, walks like an ape, and acts like an ape. The actor is absolutely amazing in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and deserves some kind of award for what he does here (and in KING KONG and the LOTR movies). The Blu-Ray contains two separate audio commentaries: one by Director Rupert Wyatt and another by Writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The DVD contains neither but it does contain the three theatrical trailers. The DVD’s 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer offers strong blacks, vivid detail, and solid depth, but the detailed work of the folks at WETA Digital really needs to be seen in hi-def to be appreciated, so if you have not upgraded to Blu-Ray, here’s your excuse.