Apes and Wands

Crazy as it may sound, I've only gone to the movies twice this summer, but I loved the two films I chose to go see. The first one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II, was even better than the first part, and a great way to end what might just be the best movie series of all time. All eight movies are tremendous achievements, and even though it's sad to know there won't be any more adventures at Hogwarts, they ended the saga with a bang. A truly terrific film.

Equally good was the second movie I saw: Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I especially liked how the movie was not a huge battle in which primates killed humans. Instead, the story takes its time to unfold, and the main characters and their personalities evolve and change throughout the whole film, which ends with the inevitable confrontation between mankind and monkeykind. (I know they're not monkeys, but allow me the alliterative pleasure.) Had this been a Michael Bay movie, the apes would have rebelled five minutes into the movie, which would have then devolved into an hour and a half of meaningless explosions. Fortunately, Bay had nothing to do with the film, and the movie turned out to be an engrossing experience, except for one little thing: the apes themselves. I know they couldn't get actual gorillas and chimpanzees to perform what the script demanded, so they had to be computer generated; but, while they looked great, they simply didn't look real. This did not bother me very much because I like animated films, but don't expect to be fooled into believing these creatures are alive, because it's obvious they're not. The movie was a lot of fun to watch, though, and it definitely deserves the great reviews it's gotten, so go see it!