Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

After rewatching the previous Apes trilogy, I was ready to dive into an all-new adventure set in this post-apocalyptic world, but unfortunately, this film isn’t what I had hoped for at all.

Set three hundred years after Cesar’s revolution saw his species successfully create a civilization of their own, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes picks up in a world where humanity is all but extinct, with pockets of non-verbal and nearly feral humans barely being a concern to the walking, talking, simians that now hold domain over Earth. Following a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague) as he tries to come to terms with his role in his father’s clan, it isn’t until a human named Mae (Freya Allan) is thrown into the mix that Noa realizes the stories about humanity might not be all they crack up to be. Also needing to avoid the encroaching threat of a coastal tribe of apes led by the ruthless Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), Noa takes it upon himself to help his new human friend while learning and growing as an ape and eventual leader, a set of hurdles that are far easier said than done.

Acting as the first Planet of the Apes movie released under the franchise’s new business daddy, Disney, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a middle-ground film that succeeds as a technical marvel but doesn’t bring much else to the table otherwise. Occasionally exciting and, at times, interesting enough to pay attention to, the fictional world of Planet of the Apes is the real draw here, and in a way, is the only reason I didn’t score this one lower. Kicking things off on somewhat solid footing by following new simian and human protagonists, the basic idea of this one is fine, yet ultimately doesn’t amount to much before the credits roll — a disappointing problem, especially considering how great the last trilogy of Apes films was.

Outside of a more “family-friendly” tone accompanied by a story that feels lazy and thin compared to the substance found in previous Apes movies, Kingdom fails in ways that aren’t always obvious — just boring as hell. Not only that, there’s simply not enough going on that compelled me to want to see more, a big issue if only because this series, even at its worst, always did something interesting with its apes over humans narrative, with Kingdom turning into a middling, overly safe, and uninteresting movie that shouldn’t have received the treatment it did. Granted, Kingdom doesn’t ruin this franchise, far from it, it just makes it so that the inevitable sequel will need to do a whole lot more than this one did to bring this franchise back on track, especially with the out-of-left-field ending being a weird twist that was more head-scratching than anything else.

So while this movie may work for those who don’t know or care much about the Planet of the Apes series, I can’t help but feel like this wasn’t the way to go to continue this franchise’s long and storied legacy. Sure, the special effects look great and the idea of this series will forever be a creative well that filmmakers can always go back to, but with thinly scripted characters, a story that amounts to being a “nothing burger,” and narrative stakes that simply weren’t captivating enough for me to care, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a misfire in numerous ways that it didn’t need to be, with any films releasing after having their work cut out for them.