Planet of the Apes

John Benton  |  Reviews
Date posted:  1 Oct 2001
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Too much monkey business

PLANET OF THE APES Cert 12. Director Tim Burton

A friend who is more of a science-fiction buff than I am told me about the original film of Planet of the Apes. With the usual evolutionary framework in mind, the scenario was that experimentation on monkeys produces a species which brings human beings into subjection.

He said its message was a kind of warning about where the hubris of unfettered science, devoid of ethics, might lead. With so much concern at the present time about the activities of cowboy scientists in the fields of cloning and bio-engineering generally, that is a cautionary message which needs to be broadcast again.

However, you will be hard pressed to find such a clear warning in the remake of Planet of the Apes. It is a film which cannot make up its mind what it wants to be. Is it an action sci-fi movie? Is it meant to be humorous? The makers have mucked around too much, trying to include too many themes from the 'God was a spaceman' idea, to the need for world peace, to animal rights, to the brutality often involved in technological advance. Of the humans one ancient ape says, 'their ingenuity is only matched by their cruelty.'

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