Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Finally! A sequel that did what sequels were supposed to do: surpass the original in every way while expanding the story. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes seemed fairly familiar, but there's something incredibly refreshing about the film. I found the story to be extremely well developed, the writing and pacing was great, and it was just thematically strong. But what made the film quite remarkable was its outstanding visual effects. The motion capture was flawlessly executed and the CGI on the apes were almost breathtakingly convincing and masterful. There was a certain depth and character to the apes that I actually cared for them more than the human characters. Plus, the cinematography was just superb. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a definitive sequel that somehow managed to pull off talking apes that ride on horses without turning it into something laughable. That's quite special. 9