Saturday, April 20, 2013

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Don Taylor
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Fox)

The setting of the original movie is ingeniously flipped on its head: Zira and Cornelius find themselves on the planet of the humans, befriended by veterinarians and feared by a scientist who wants to preserve the human, not ape, race, just like Dr. Zaius. The two apes are essentially the Adam and Eve of the future talking apes who will make humans their slaves. Dr. Hasslein realizes that and wants them, and Zira's newborn child, killed to prevent it. Zira resorts to a bit of trickery, and amazing foresight, to save it, leaving the door open for the next sequel, a sketch of which is given at one point by Cornelius. Escape tends to emphasize the melodrama rather than the science fiction and feels dated, but it is probably the key film to understanding the Apes universe in its entirety.

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