Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” opens with Caesar lying in state, surrounding by a horde of mourning chimps, as his dead body is covered in flowers and ritually set on fire.
The movie then cuts to the jungle, where a title informs us that it’s “many generations later.” In other words, the tale we’ve been watching in the last three “Apes” films — “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011), “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (2014), and “War for the Planet of the Apes” (2017) — is now ancient franchise history.
I’m in the minority of viewers who would greet that news by saying, “Thank God.” When classic IP gets remade, there is always a double agenda: tapping a new audience, but also serving the audience that has fond memories of the original.
In “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the center of dramatic action passes from Caesar over to Noa (Owen Teague), a serious young chimpanzee who has many Caesar-like qualities.
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