Serkis's Caesar lifts a franchise blockbuster into something genuinely felt.
Verdict tier Recommended, most critics liked it, on a scale of Unfavorable, Mixed, Recommended, Exceptional.
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Critic consensus
Critical reception for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is strongly positive, with reviewers consistently praising its emotional depth, thematic substance, and technical achievement in visual effects and motion capture. Andy Serkis's performance as Caesar is singled out repeatedly as a highlight, and several critics commend the film's allegorical treatment of human-ape conflict as a mirror to real-world tensions. The craftsmanship of director Matt Reeves and cinematographer Michael Seresin also draws notable appreciation. The lone recurring criticism is that the film can feel like a calculated, manufactured franchise product despite the quality of its execution.
2 not-rated reviews aren't plotted
Positive = 6.5/10 and up · negative = below 5/10
AI-generated summary of 12 critic reviews · may contain errors
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Top critics first, then by score · not-rated last · updated
Top critic
Film review ·
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not just better than its predecessor, it also reminds you why you go to the cinema to see movies. This film is one of the best this year will deliver. The future of summer blockbusters is in Reeves' good hands.
Top critic
Film review ·
The sequel to 2011′s well-received Rise of the Planet of the Apes is not just an astounding achievement in special effects — though there's that too, from how the apes communicate to emote to swing from trees to wield weapons to ride horses and battle. It does one better in propelling the story towards its inevitable war and its inevitably bleak finale. In the mindless destruction they wreak on each other, the men and apes can't be told apart — a fact that the film underlines unfailingly, at the threat of repeating itself.
Top critic
Film review ·
...is consistently engaging, and a film to be enjoyed on the big screen. It is a blockbuster in every sense of the word, offering big thrills and moments of great awe and wonder, yet it's smart and full of feeling too.
Film review ·
It's gotten to be a very familiar ploy in Hollywood to remake previously light, cheesy entertainments with well-crafted, heavy grandiosity. So if there's a failing of 'Apes,' it's that it feels like yet another manufactured franchise. Talented people like Reeves and Serkis are brought in like HGTV fixer-uppers to restore mossy pop-culture properties. But, alas, they're very good at it.
Film review ·
Definitely watch this one for Andy Serkis. And because -- cheesy as it may sound -- when the end credits roll, you realise that it's not the destination that mattered, it's the journey this film took you on. You rarely get to say that about sequels these days. Bring on the next one!
Film review ·
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not, and never was, about a fictional future that seems scary and yet amusing to us at present. It is about realising what we're doing today and what could be done to us tomorrow. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes unapologetically pits humans against apes; and you can't just be a mute spectator. You will be forced to take sides.
Film review ·
Subtlety is the key here and it makes allegorical references rather than hammer down what it is has to say. And this is not just a story of friendship between humans and animals, there is more to it. At times the apes behave like humans and vice versa. As evolution has proved, there is after all a thin line between us and our predecessors.
Film review ·
Emotionally intense, deeply absorbing and visually engaging, DOTPOTA is a solid build-up to another deserving sequel. If not anything, you must watch it for Caesar aka motion capture maestro Andy Serkis. He is the 'Godfather' here.
Film review ·
It is a true spectacle. There is Suspense, Thrill, Drama and whole lot of Action. If Transformers somewhat left you heart-broken, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will revive you. It is more than a tale of survival. It is about the complexities of the mind and relationships. And if you are a fan of Andy Serkis, you mustn't miss out this avatar of him.
Film review ·
The first film gave us a look at how the apes would eventually rise, while this one brilliantly explores their evolution and their ultimate dominance which will happen in the next film. This is one summer film you might not want to miss.
Film review ·
Overall the film is superbly crafted and engaging to watch. To have a sustained and flawless representation of the ape world and the dystopian state is no mean achievement. It is equally laudable the way it is skillfully captured by Director of Photography Michale Seresin whose frames seamlessly merge with the computer-generated images.
Film review ·
A perfect summer watch which will also give you something to think about - go for it.
Film review ·
Andy Serkis is God. That's it. Those four words up there are pretty much all you need to hear in terms of a reason to go watch Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes in theatres.
Film review ·
A big studio franchise that shuns cosmetic thrills for substance.
From our readers
16 ratings · user score 7.3
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a film by Matt Reeves, is extremely high on emotional side. It is great to see the emotional connect between humans and the apes. This movie really explores what happened after 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'. If 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' was spectacular, this is super-spectacular. The presentation of the movie is so natural and simple that one gets to relate with almost all the characters. Everyone has the right to live on this earth, be it animals or humans, one cannot afford to become the threat for the other. The evolved apes are trying to live their own lives and humans are in the struggle to survive. Each character, whether humans or apes, has been so well crafted and detailed. We get to feel their loss, fear, insecurity, efforts for survival etc. It is great to see the sentient apes, talking, expressing emotions like humans. Apes are shown to be quite rational and forgiving in comparison to humans. In spite of them having experienced human cruelty and imprisonment, now they want peace and just want to be free in their own world away from humans. This movie tells the story of how the declining humans and the ascendant apes come to be at war. The movie begins from where the 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' finished. In the first film, humans gave the apes their intelligence with an experimental drug. Ten years later, humans have largely been wiped out by contagious and deadly side effects of the same experiment. A quick montage gives us an idea of all these happenings since Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It narrates the wake of a flu epidemic, followed by violence and chaos. As a result, Dr. Willman (James Franco) and other millions of people are dead. Human civilization has become almost extinct. The survivors have cobbled together a society in the ruins of San Francisco, with Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) as their leader. On the other side, apes are in the initial stage of their civilization. Initial frames of the movie shows Ceaser (Andy Serkis – what an amazing performance), leader of the apes, with his family and fellow apes in a forest. Outstanding scenes with the apes swinging off the trees, jumping off the walls. Blue eyes (Nick Thurston), teenage son of Caesar and Cornelia (Judy Greer) is shown to be impulsive and short-tempered. Koba (Tony Kebbell), Caesar's adviser feels that Caesar is too affectionate towards humans. Koba has lot of angst towards human beings since he was a test subject for them all his life before he was freed by Caesar. Caesar's second-in-command cum great friend is Rocket (Terry Notary), who is also the honorary uncle of Caesar's children. Humans and apes are almost oblivious to the existence of each other, but the situation changes when humans come face to face with Blue Eyes and Ash (Doc Shaw), Rocket's teenage son. Humans had come there hoping to tap an energy source, basically to gain access to a hydroelectric dam.Humans and apes clash. Who emerges as the dominant species?
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. There is a ape in every human and there is a human in every ape. This line describes the whole idea behind consistently engaging and imaginative sequel to the well respected Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Taking a jump of 10 years from the last movie, dawn is about the survival of the fittest among apes and humans. Caesar, the amazing creation of combination of acting skills of Andy Serkis and new age motion capture technology is the heart of the story. He leads, and bleeds for the apes. Apes have become almost human. They have families, the conflicts, the trust issues with humans and the rules to govern their wild colony. These tiny details make Dawn a unique piece of cinema. All jungle scenes are done so well that they make real footage of National Geographic seem ordinary. All apes and humans characters make you root for them even the evil ones. Caesar's elder son's emotional journey is soothing and his younger's son's first encounter with humans is heart warming. At the same time, ape Koba's encounter with two humans guarding the weapons and his ever rising conflict with Caesar is chilling. For nitpicking, apes riding horses seems somewhat hard to believe and 3D does not add any value in the story telling apart from the massive destruction scene in the climax. Running for more than 2 hours, dawn is a high voltage action and fiction drama that leaves you amazed. I am going with fantastic 8 out of 10 for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It is the most sure footed blockbuster of Hollywood this year so far. Don't miss it!
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with intelligence and emotional resonance to match its stunning special effects, it expands on its predecessor with an exciting and ambitious burst of sci-fi achievement.Its so fresh that the running time of 2hr 10 min felt like half an hour ,its so engaging.
Full of drama, thrill and emotions, its a complete entertainment. You will just love the special effects.
Credits
Andy Serkis
Jason ClarkeMalcolm
Gary OldmanDreyfus
Keri RussellEllie
Kodi Smit-McPheeAlexander
Judy Greer
Kirk AcevedoCarver
Keir O'DonnellFinney
Kevin RankinMcVeigh
Jocko SimsWerner
J. D. EvermoreSniperEnglish films like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
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