|
|
|
||||||||
|
|||||||
|
Planet
Of The Apes |
|||||||
It has been way over thirty years since George Taylor literally flew from earth to get away from his fellow man. The original Planet of the Apes was a very important film. Humorous . . . most definitely; but it had many messages and a big payoff at the end. It is the type of movie you only can really do once. Everything else that follows just doesn’t muster up. The sequels did very well; made money for Fox and a nice DVD release of all five ape films has appeared recently. Now Fox has decided to go back to the original story by Pierre Boulle and give us simian fanatics a new dose of monkey planet. Tim Burton has done a masterful job of giving us a rejuvenated Planet of the Apes . . . at least in looks. The make-up is great and Tim Roth turns in the best ape performance since Mighty Joe Young. Yet there are things that made the original so compelling. First off, Mark Wahlberg is no Charlton Heston. Even though Heston annoys me these days, Wahlberg cannot carry the picture on his own. Also, I felt that the premise of humans talking, took away from the story; I felt that we were retreading the original apes TV show which only made it for one simian season. Also the ending of the remake is only a send-up of the original. Even the sequels didn’t try to outdo the original’s ending. In short, I felt that Tim Burton went from total originality with Sleepy Hollow to lets do another remake that isn’t as good as the original. To be honest, I didn’t feel like I saw something that was compelling me to want to see it again. On the other hand, Danny Elfman has written a totally percussive score which grows on you with every listen. He has not tried to emulate Jerry Goldsmith’s very unique and original score. It is interesting to hear Elfman’s take on the original picture. He liked it when he was a kid; but it didn’t make him into a fanatic; sort of what the new version did for me (or didn’t do). His score is an amazing piece of synthesized percussion overlays over a live orchestra. Elfman is one of the few composers today who is entirely original in his approach. His film music is a joy to listen to; much like the composers of the past. That is what is great about his music. It is one of the main reasons to see this film. The art design is great . . . the make-up unbelievable . . . but it doesn’t gel into something that is a totally great. The soundtrack is made up of cues from the film and some, like the ape suites, which are made up of material that didn’t make it into the finished film. My only complaint about the album is the stupid remix of the main title . . . Why? I guess because this type of drek sells albums. But you know what?. . . It still stinks . . . and it is not necessary. So
we must take Danny’s music on its own terms; not only as a film score, but
as a burst of frenetic orchestral power. A burst that is not too bad either. Return to Main Page Return to Older Reviews
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||
