You know the story: boy meets ape; boy gets ape; boy loses planet. In this remake of the 1968 film, Marky Mark Wahlberg (sans Funky Bunch) must defeat the ape army before the cast smothers to death beneath Rick Baker's cumbersome facial appliances. In a story as loosely based on Pierre Boulle's novel as Spongebob is on The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tim Roth plays the role of a sugary Christmas ham that snarls and scowls endlessly while Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Giamatti struggle to maintain their dignity beneath several pounds of vulcanized rubber. All fail.
Relieved filmgoers once believed that the Planet of the Apes franchise had permanently passed on after a series of increasingly less successful sequels (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Behind the Wainscoting of the Planet of the Apes, and The Planet of the Apes Meets the Wolf Man, Who Quickly Becomes Bored and Leaves).
Nevertheless, Hollywood, in its insatiable drive to revive cinematic classics, slop a fresh coat of CGI on them, and sell them as new, brought in blunderkind director Tim Burton to sprinkle his dark whimsy on this simian corpse. The result is a shinier, noisier monkey movie that asks the musical question, "If Mark Wahlberg crash landed on a planet populated with intelligent apes, would anyone notice?"
This track only works with the original theatical version of the film.
Comments
Absolutely in the top tier of iRiffs that I've heard. Solid writing throughout, and perhaps the best voicework out there outside of Mike and the guys. OVerall really great use of sound-effects, though there were times where I felt like they were over-used (the "boing!" sound effect for the monkeys jumping was really tired by the end of the riff). I thought that was a shame, especially considering how good all the rest of the writing was.
Ultimately, a solid investment, well worth it at twice the price, and probably one of the few ways to make this movie actually *watchable*.
Would definitely like to see more from Filmquips in the future.
I enjoyed the fact that this one did things a little differently from the usual riffs--this one uses sound effects and various post-production techniques. A lot of fun.
A well-done riff! The sound effects make this a nice deviation from the norm; good writing and delivery throughout! Also, some wonderful horrible puns; "footnotes" being my favorite! Looking forward to more from this riffer!
M@
This is one of the best iRiffs I've heard so far! Tim Burton's remake of PLANET OF THE APES really deserves a good riffing, and it receives one here. I was laughing constantly throughout the whole thing! It's unfortunate that Michael Sepesy doesn't have a sample preview yet, which is why I waited so long to order it. Based on the reviews so far, I finally decided to give it a chance, and I was glad I did! I will definitely check out any future riffs by Michael Sepesy, but I highly recommend that he post some sample footage to help increase sales. I can't help wondering how many others might have passed this up because there was no sample.
The ONLY weakness is the lack of a sample, but this is a top tier IRIFF and matches up well with any riff-trax! Amazing use of sound effects which brings a nice change of pace, great riffing, varied joke styles and for me it all adds up to a solid 9! In fact I found this to be so fun, that I'll watch the dvd again with the text commentary (uh oh my nerd is showing) and this great Iriff!!!
Well done and I hope to hear more from him in the future.