One of the most successful franchises from 20th Century Studios is “Planet Of The Apes”, which began back in the sixties and was rebooted back in 2011, with three successful films including “Rise”, “Dawn” and “War” of the “Planet Of The Apes”.

For the latest film, the story moves forward a few generations beyond that of Caesar, where we see a whole new world, where there are different tribes of apes and humans are rounded up like animals.

The story follows a young ape called Noa, who belongs to a tribe of apes that use falconry to succeed the adventure begins with Noa and two other apes climbing to the top of the tallest structure to claim an eagle’s egg for coming-of-age ceremony.

However, when they return, they discover their tribe has been attacked and taken by another tribe, which is run by a self-proclaimed king, Proximus Caesar, who is trying to uncover some secrets from when humans ran the world, by any means possible.

When trying to track down his family, he stumbles across a human called Mae, who is unlike any he has ever encountered before, and while he isn’t sure of her, she joins him on his quest, which ultimately results in Noa going toe-to-toe with Proximus Caesar.

There are many twists and turns along the way, which I won’t get into, so I don’t spoil the movie, but I really enjoyed how this felt very different to previous movies, because the focus wasn’t really on the humans trying to reclaim their spot, though the film does set up future instalments rather nicely in a Marvel-ish type way. 

“Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes” just felt fresh and different, yet weirdly familiar.  Moving the storyline on many generations just changes so much about everything we’ve seen before.  I’ve loved the previous three movies in the franchise, and while this new one is connected to the recent trilogy, it is also almost like a soft reboot, since they can move forward into new territory and explore how the apes are evolving, learning and also making some of the same mistakes humans have made before.

Visually, this movie feels very different from the previous movies because the world we know has been eroded away. We can see the remains of human civilization, but nature is taking it back, giving it a very different feeling from the previous movies.

In terms of the digital release, there isn’t too much original bonus content, though there is a twenty minute behind the scenes featurette, which shows audiences how they made the movie and about the influence the original movies had on the cast and crew.  

With this film having some of the most advanced technology ever used, the documentary showcases how much work went into making this fantastic movie.   It was also strange to see how much of the film was made on set, rather than using blue screens in a warehouse, which is probably why the movie feels more grounded in reality.  It’s a nice documentary, but it is something you’d only want to watch once and could easily have been a combination of multiple YouTube videos.

There are also plenty of deleted scenes, which is interesting to see since they slice in the footage of the actors in their capture suits; they also come with audio commentary from the director.  I’m always a little torn whenever I watch deleted scenes since they are usually deleted for a reason. it’s a nice little bonus feature, but it’s not worth buying the digital version for.

Overall:  “Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes” is a really enjoyable blockbuster, with plenty of action and moments to pull on your heartstrings.  If you have enjoyed the previous movies, I’m sure you’re going to love this one too, as this film is really good and does make you think about life more from the apes side, than from the human point of view.

Rating: 4 Out Of 5

“Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes” is available to purchase now on Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.

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Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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