Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Kingdom... is more than a big-budget epic: it explores dilemmas that haunt our real world and has so much empathy for its characters you wonder if it wants us to root for the apes, rather than the humans.

Ball’s movie — intended as the start of a new story arc featuring new characters — is the typical bloated and bland franchise fodder that can only come out of a Hollywood that relishes IP as far as its name and no further.

Kingdom is the episode of the series that we didn't know we needed, distinguished by a powerfully set scene, more than decent level acting and a narrative proposal worth appreciating. [Full review in Spanish]

“Kingdom” aims for some sort of anti-fascism and anti-gun statement. But the film tramples on its own undeveloped ideas when it suddenly become a large-scale actioner. It’s as if the studio had a carnage meter that had to hit 11 before fadeout.

An entertaining new entry in the dormant franchise.

An astounding vision, profound writing and originality are missing in this pretender. It’s a shallow knockoff that can’t carry the weight of the legacy it inherited.

This is the true circle of life wherein oppressed rebels inevitably become domineering oppressors ... and back again. Because while cognition does breed empathy, fear-driven self-preservation always seems to win out.

You can’t help but get caught up in the story. It’s so filled with genuine emotion and moral quanadries and sweeping action that you forget these are just CGI apes.

This entire revived Apes series has been really good, and this is a really worthy entry.

The elemental pull of the storytelling guides “Kingdom” over its more schematic and placeholder elements, resulting in a serviceable 21st century variation on the sword-and-sandal epic of past generations. It'll do.