Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Wohoo! James Franco, John Lithgow and Andy Serkis (Gollum) create a rather touching film that absolutely creates audience involvement. Evil animal experimenters were booed, and escaped chimps were cheered, and the audience had a very good time. Especially when the humans die.  It is a movie in three parts- and the best part is the time with the chimp as a baby. When the chimp speaks, our audience acted as if a miracle had actually occurred.  Of course, the usual bad guy is the pharmaceutical industry that tests on animals- it's evidently lost on people that without animal testing, it would have to be tested on their children or parents. Anyhoo, throwing realism to the wind, the theme is not as important as you might think. (Perhaps the real problem is that people raise predatory primates as pets. Want your face or someone's testicles quickly removed- then go piss off a chimp).  The CGI is great- almost seamless. When the primates move in a huge group, the CGI fails at times.  But for a good time, it is something to see. It isn't a very deep movie, and it isn't really very moving. But it is fun. That is enough.