One thing we humans still can boast over the apes: we're the only species on Earth that can tell a story about our demise and then gather in dark rooms to cheer on the agent of our own downfall.

Director Rupert Wyatt and his fellow humans have achieved that paradoxical goal in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, a clever, enjoyably subversive satire on man's inhumanity to our world and a cautionary tale about being too proud of shaping it in our own image. Fear not, this isn't some hoary old 1950s morality lesson about the evils of science which must eventually be our undoing. Rather it's a matter-of-fact declaration that as our science and curiosity open new doors to our universe, we should look into them cautiously before jumping feet first through them. If we happen to leave our humanity behind while jumping forward, only trouble will follow us on the road ahead.

Better still, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is an artfully told story of fathers and sons led by an actor who has overcome the technology creating the visage of a character and has inspired audiences to follow his complex new being on-screen. The most successful special effect in this film is Andy Serkis and his ultra-chimpanzee character Caesar will no doubt rule box offices this weekend. This isn't your father's PLANET OF THE APES and, with all due respect to the classic film franchise, RISE is all the better for it.

Wyatt's origin tale for the evolutionary leap of ape over man begins innocently enough, at least on the surface. Genetic scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) may have developed a cure for Alzheimer's disease within the glossy confines of the Gen-Sys laboratories in the Bay Area of California. His ALZ-112 compound, a type of viral medicine invented to let a damaged brain repair itself by generating new healthy cells, has proven successful in testing on ape subjects — specifically for one chimp called Bright Eyes, who is exhibiting increased mental capacity for thought, strategy and logic far beyond expectation.  Not only does the 112 drug repair the brain, it allows it to literally grow smarter with continued treatment.  Rodman convinces the Gen-Sys leader Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) that 112 is ready for testing on humans, but at a board meeting attempting to approve such testing, Bright Eyes breaks into the room with panicked, aggressive behavior. Her revolt all but kills future funding for 112 and Rodman's career, so he secretly sneaks vials of the treatment home to test on his own father Charles (ever reliable John Lithgow), who suffers from Alzheimer's himself. But that isn't the only rule Will breaks: it turns out that Bright Eyes had no violent side effects from 112 testing, rather she was protecting her newborn baby chimp. To save the infant's life, Rodman brings the chimp home to raise since it has genetically inherited the drug's intelligent traits from his mother: a living legacy of all his research work.

Treatments given to Charles go well and he shows great improvement as he and Will raise the chimp Caesar in ways both human and apelike, communicating through sign language as part of the family. Yet as time passes and Caesar grows, he can only watch the human world through his attic window and eventually his isolation overcomes his obedience to stay in the Rodman house. The outside world views him only as a frightening, dangerous animal — humans being fearful of anything different they don't understand — even though Caesar does not provoke violence or merit such fears. He's the ape who wants to be a boy riding a bicycle, but having confronted the larger human world, he cannot comprehend why he is so feared, so different from those he wishes to befriend. Here the two worlds of man and ape collide not in revolution but in heartfelt emotion thanks to Serkis' gloriously transcendent performance. Gone is the fondly remembered movie conceit of watching Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter portray evolved, talking apes while acting through masks of rubber and hair to fit the simian mold. Courtesy of the CG wizards of WETA Digital, Serkis' Caesar is an ape evolving right before our eyes, and suffering all the identifiable growing pains of a lonely, confused outsider who simply yearns to love and be loved by others. For the first time in his life, Caesar realizes he does not belong in the world of man, and slowly, sadly, his destiny unfolds before him.

Thanks to Caesar's outburst in the neighborhood, animal control officials take the chimp away from the Rodmans and incarcerate Caesar in an ape "sanctuary" which proves to be nothing more than an ape prison, housing dozens of chimps, orangutans and gorillas as fodder for science experimentation. Here is where RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES' social satire connects directly back to the original APES classic from 1968 and Pierre Boulle's novel which inspired the cinematic adaptation starring Charlton Heston. Screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver forge their best storytelling when centering on the injustice suffered by the apes, and living it all through Caesar's sympathetic eyes and increasingly calculating mind. This review refuses to spoil the remainder of the story, but suffice it to say that Serkis makes Caesar's journey an easy, enjoyable adventure, evoking laughs in all the right places, buoying moments of support for the character and genuine concern for what will happen to Caesar and the apes. The filmmakers' greatest success is encouraging viewers to identify with Caesar so readily and indeed take his side in the story. Despite knowing where this origin tale may well lead in a rebooted APES franchise of film sequels, audiences will likely be too willing to cheer on Caesar's revolution to stop and ponder how it all ends . . . or at least might continue. The outcome of this uprising may be a foregone conclusion, but the trip getting there is a ride many will enjoy taking at Caesar's side as willing co-conspirators.

Kudos are well earned by VFX Supervisor Joe Letteri and the WETA Digital masters of performance and pixels who, after great leaps in CG imaging with films like KING KONG and AVATAR, have finally developed the skill and tool set to free Serkis and his fellow ape actors from the bounds of technology and let emotive, individual performance shine through. Perhaps the subject matter of portraying real world apes we know versus the tall blue aliens of James Cameron's sci-fi imagination allows this new degree of character success, or maybe Serkis has mastered a new level of his own craft in such roles, but in any case the distracting artifice of truly lifelike CG characters has been most artfully shed. Caesar stands as a unique achievement in terms of cinematic wonder and character expression, far beyond even the best moments enacted by the pitiful Gollum or the mighty Kong, and Serkis' applause for this role is highly deserved.

Alas RISE is not a perfect film across all categories, and for all the high marks Jaffa and Silver's script earns telling Caesar's story, often the human characters get the short end of the dramatic stick. By and large, they are underwritten roles for which the cast compensates the best they can. Franco's Will Rodman is understandably obsessive about his scientific pursuit to cure Alzheimer's, but rarely do we glimpse any quiet, real moments of humanity in him which aren't prompted in reaction to his father or Caesar. Will's relationship with Charles is understandably touching given the circumstances, but not much warmth is expressed between the two even when 112 has Charles operating on all cylinders. The character arc of Will's friend in need and eventual girlfriend Caroline (alluring but underutilized Freida Pinto) flatlines throughout, making their romantic bonding a function of time passing in the script much more than any genuine love built up between them. Oyelowo's Jacobs remains a one-dimensional profiteer who never even pretends to be interested in Rodman's miraculous cure beyond its money-generating results for Gen-Sys. This is a shameful missed opportunity given the social critique and moral dilemmas in the story.

The villains of the piece fare no better, not even in the capable hands of Brian Cox and HARRY POTTER's Tom Felton, the dark side father and son who run the abusive ape sanctuary where Caesar is held until the uber-chimp gets better ideas on outwitting his human captors. Both actors have undeniable track records playing heavies, baddies and sniveling snots on movie screens, but their characters lack the complexity to merit any conclusion about human behavior beyond some people are born jerks who deserve what they get. Two more missed opportunities by Jaffe and Silver to enhance the ramifications of Caesar's revolt by raising questions about mercy versus malevolence, and what it means for justice to truly triumph over evil. On the brighter side, a lingering mini-subplot involving Will's lab assistant and a combative next door neighbor is cleverly (if thinly) woven through the film only to get tied up in its implication-heavy ending with more satisfying results.

Credit to Wyatt's disciplined, often bold direction which keeps this train chugging ahead at full speed just when all the thematic wheels are coming off as apes rise to meet their destiny. This is no small feat considering the added pressure on Wyatt et al in revisiting the APES film franchise while breathing new dramatic life into the oft-explored (and exploited) conceit of ape ruling over man. Not only does Wyatt invest so heavily in Caesar's character to win over the audience, but his method of telling something so familiar not only defeats expectation, it surpasses it. Even if you think you know where RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is headed, you'll quickly find yourself enjoying the journey so much that you're in no rush to reach that destination. The final confrontation between ape and man on the Golden Gate Bridge is an eerie, powerful action setpiece which not only advances the ape revolution plot, but does so from a character-based view which plants seeds for Caesar's future that could pay off handsomely in sequel of equally imaginative bravado and skill.

While WETA's superb visual effects compliment the entire film, they never allow panoramic spectacle or frenzied action to overshadow Caesar's heroic evolution. So lifelike are Caesar and his ape brothers and sisters, that it's blissfully easy to forget they are CG images worn by very talented actors: digital magic surrenders to dramatic performance to the point that you will believe an ape can evolve, and cheer while it happens. At the moment of Caesar's ascension as a leader, the film goes silent save for his character alone and the emotional impact (perhaps even momentary shock) is palpable to say the least. A new world is born and audiences will hardly mind even if it means the cinematic collapse of human society and dominance on Earth. We will gladly follow our newfound hero into battle, and I'm not sure much higher compliment can be paid to Andy Serkis for his performance which makes this transfer of allegiance possible.

Fans of THE PLANET OF THE APES classic films will note many delightful Easter Egg references of the prior films peppered throughout Wyatt's story with fond, sometimes humorous results. For those in the know, watch for references to Charlton Heston himself, the Icarus spaceship launch, water hose riot control and even a quotation about "damned dirty apes." RISE honors its progenitors while refusing to be slave to its franchise plot demands and confinements, and thus enjoys the best of both worlds as an inspired origin tale. This is an accomplishment Tim Burton's 2001 remake failed to achieve on nearly every level, which only boosts Wyatt's success here a notch higher above expectations. Caesar might well prove himself a franchise leader for the ages, or at least until his progeny claim our planet for the apes completely, when their own troubles as a species will begin.

Only time — or time travel — will tell if RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES will generate a sequel and its own multi-chapter cinematic legacy, but Wyatt's bold origin story makes the prospect of a sequel very appealing on its own terms, as long as that extension builds upon the success achieved here rather than resting on its laurels for profit sake. That is: Fox, if you've got a hit on your hands, don't screw it up. Meanwhile the creation of Caesar should handily prove that Andy Serkis is no one-trick pony in terms of acting skill, as his performance capture methods now stand as equal to other acting methods which don't bear the burden of prejudice against their technological nature. Serkis merely wears digital prosthetics over his expressive, emotive face and body, but never once do such illusionary layers dampen his character's visual and dramatic impact upon the story. Caesar is the most human character in the film, and filmgoers will gladly follow a hero of such caliber into any story again and again. As a human reviewer, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES earns two opposable thumbs up and 4 1/2 stars for a fantastic journey not in time and space, but through the human soul . . . even if it survives in a species not called homo sapiens.