Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is heading to theaters this weekend and the film marks the ninth installment to the franchise that began back in 1968. The new film was helmed by Wes Ball, and it takes place “many generations” after the events of the previous trilogy. Today, the official reviews for the movie dropped, and they’re pretty positive. ComicBook’s Spencer Perry gave the film a 4 out of 5, and called it “a grand time, and a worthy follow-up.” Turns out, most critics seem to be in line with Perry as the movie is currently up on the review site with an 87% critics score after 67 reviews. You can check out some excerpts from the reviews below…
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“It’s less action-heavy than the last trilogy and inevitably more ape-centric, but this is a promisingly chewy start for the latest series of simian thrillers. These apes are still strong,” Helen O’Hara (Empire Magazine) wrote.
“Another worthy installment in a series that is pretty much unparalleled in contemporary times,” Richard Lawson (Vanity Fair) shared.
“Caesar may be long dead, but Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes proves there’s still a lot of life in these primates,” Eric Goldman (IGN Movies) added.
“What makes ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ powerful, in the end… [is that] it probes how the act of co-opting idealisms and converting them to dogmas has occurred many times over,” Alissa Wilkinson (New York Times) explained.
However, not everyone came out loving the film.
“You’re essentially left with nothing but Blockbuster 101 grandstanding. Welcome to the emptiest of monkeyhouses,” David Fear (Rolling Stone) proclaimed.
“Behind the impressive CGI, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the definition of generic, all two hours and 25 minutes of it,” Caryn James (BBC.com) wrote.
You can check out more reviews from critics here.
What Is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes About?
You can read a description of the film here: “Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”
The cast for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is anchored by Owen Teague (IT) as Noa, a young chimpanzee. He’s joined in the film by Kevin Duran (Locke & Key) as Proximus Caesar, a powerful chieftain that has appropriated human technology; Travis Jeffery as Anaya; Lydia Peckham as Soona, a female chimpanzee and a friend of Noa. Neil Sandilands as Koro; Peter Macon as Raka; and Freya Allan (The Witcher) as Mae, one of the few human characters to appear in the movie
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens in theaters on May 10th.
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