Sunday, July 31, 2011

Muppets and Monkeys and Movies! Oh My!

Amongst the scores of films coming out this year, there are at least two that I’m totally psyched to see: The Muppets and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Ah, les Muppets. Frankly, there hasn’t been a decent Muppet movie since my all-time favourite, The Muppets Take Manhattan. Add Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and friends to the mix, a storyline that hearkens back to what made the Muppets great in the first place, some very cool teaser trailers and it’s hard to see how this one could do any wrong.

Next up is Rise of the Planet of the Apes (or ROTPOTA as the cool kids call it). I’ve been a huuuuuuuge fan of the classic Apes series since my teens, including the original source novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle. The Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of Apes, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes each add their own “something special”, though of course none of the latter have the magic or impact of the original, or the late, great Charlton Heston (save for a brief appearance in Beneath). As for the Tim Burton remake … well, the less said about that, the better.

This time around, we get to see how the valiant apes rise up to take over from those dastardly evil humans. ROTPOTA features the acting talents of Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings) as the lead ape, Caesar, as well as John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer .... errr, I mean sweet, old guy losing his mind. The film also fulfills the recent Hollywood requirement that James Franco appear in every movie. Every movie. Ever. Seriously.

The Muppets opens on the 23rd of November, 2011 in Canada and the US, the 28th of December, 2011 in France, and the 1st of January, 2012 in Australia. ROTPOTA opens on the 4th of August, 2011 in Australia, the 5th of August 2011 in Canada and the US, and the 10th of August, 2011 in France.