Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) on Netflix
PG-1320111h 45mActionDramaSci-Fi
Chemist Will Rodman tests an Alzheimer's drug on chimpanzees and takes in Caesar, the infant son of a treated chimp. The young chimpanzee inherits his mother's intelligence and learns to sign.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.6/10610,161 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes82%
Trailer
Plot summary
Chemist Will Rodman tests a viral drug called ALZ-112 on chimpanzees at Gen-Sys, a biotechnology company in San Francisco, hoping to cure the Alzheimer's disease that has taken hold of his father, Charles. During a presentation to investors, the chimpanzee Bright Eyes is forced from her cage and goes on a rampage; she is shot, and Will's supervisor, Steven Jacobs, ends the project. Will's assistant, Robert Franklin, points out that Bright Eyes had recently given birth, so Will brings her baby home and names him Caesar. Exposed to the drug in the womb, Caesar is highly intelligent and able to communicate in sign language. Will raises him alongside Charles and begins a relationship with the primatologist Caroline Aranha. When Caesar injures an aggressive neighbor who threatens Charles, animal control takes him to a shelter.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Searching newspaper clippings, Rick Jaffa was intrigued by one about pet primates that become troublesome to their owners; realizing it fit the Planet of the Apes series, he called his wife and screenwriting partner Amanda Silver, and the couple began developing the character of Caesar.
- While Andy Serkis was the primary performer for Caesar, the effects team felt that at times "Andy overcame the character", so they also used Devyn Dalton, whose height matched that of a chimpanzee, and Notary for stunt-filled scenes such as the Golden Gate Bridge sequence.
- Kathryn Bigelow, Robert Rodriguez and Tomas Alfredson were all offered the chance to direct Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and all of them turned it down.
- Rather than use actors in suits, the producers had Weta Digital create the apes digitally in almost every case through motion capture; almost 1,500 visual effects shots were previsualized, and advances in the technology allowed performance capture outdoors rather than on a soundstage.
- Composer Doyle employed an African-American chorus and focused on percussion and low, deep orchestra sounds, working closely with the sound department and writing a recurring theme based on their recording of a chimpanzee.
- The role of chemist Will Rodman went to James Franco only after talks with his Spider-Man co-star Tobey Maguire broke down.
