Planet of the Apes (2001 remake) - Good film. Bad ending.

Okay, if you don't know... the original Planet of the Apes movie was hailed as a classic. Despite being basically a B-movie with a load of men in rubber masks, it had a unique ending which will be remembered throughout cinema history (if you don't know what it is, then I won't spoil it by telling you). Therefore, now we have the remake (or `re-envisioning' as the film-makers like to call it), it had two choices: either copy the original ending and leave everyone saying they ripped off the first, or try to match it for shock value.

I don't think they would have won doing either. They tried `shock value' and failed.

However, if you ignore that, Planet of the Apes (the remake) isn't actually a bad movie. If you like sci-fi (and can forgive the blasphemy of remaking such a classic) you should at least enjoy the make-up - which is awesome for creating new and varied races of apes.

Not counting the ending, there are other negatives, too. There are more human characters, most of which don't get the screen time they deserve to be fully developed (and any fans of Kris Kristophen will feel short-changes as his addition is basically an extended cameo). Plus the action isn't that action-packed (but then Tim Burton is hardly an `action director').

However, despite the negatives, it's still not a bad movie. It'll never be the classic that the original was and it was a disappointment at the box office (meaning the ending will never get the explanation it deserved). Don't expect too much and enjoy the grisly performance of Tim Roth as the evil ape leader and not being able to recognise Helena Bonham Carter in her make-up.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that