From Chimpan-A to Chimpanzee...

Planet of the Apes... What can I say? It's a classic, that if I have seen, not since I was a child and it probably scared me to death. So I took this as my first "proper" viewing. Being a masssssive Simpsons geek in the last, just over 10 years, really, I couldn't help but be reminded of two hilarious bits of the show while watching. So the girlish giggles exploding from my mouth were not because the film was humourous or bad, but because of countless parodies since the films 1968 release.

So, really, it's a great film. Little strange concept, and even though it's only fiction, it's quite strange seeing apes enslaving people, and people acting like apes... The fact that it's believable enough for the mind to wander that far says a lot of good about the film, for me. If it was just ridiculously too much it'd take away a large part of the film. Some might think, but how are talking apes not just laughably bad?! The answer is... I honestly don't know. But they made it work. I'll never understand how, but, the fact that these film makers, took the concept of "talking monkeys treating humans as slaves" and make it so you DON'T just laugh at the sight of it, is pretty genius film making. Kudos to them, very much so.

Charlton Heston in the lead role. Well, he's an acting legend, isn't he? I've not seen much of his, but just about everyone interested in film knows the name. He's great in it. Would be better. But there was too much DAMNING THOSE DAMN DIRTY APES!!! ..DAMN IT!! Every other utterance was a damn this, damn that, damn apes everywhere!!! It kinda makes that final "damn them all to hell!" when coming across the Statue of Liberty a little less dramatic. The damn's there would've been more effective if you didn't just think 'damn' was his favourite word that he wanted to chuck in every DAMN sentence.

These reviews, by the way, will get more technical minded, when I stop watching films that end at between 1 and 3am in the morning. I just can't sit and blag my way through the mis-en-scene and cinematogprahy at 1:06am, it's just too much!

As for the Apes, my verdict: a (damn) good classic; not to be missed.