Search For: "planet of the apes evolution"

• Planet of the Apes Triple | Blu Ray | (27/11/2017) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Billed as a "re-imagining" of the original film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honourable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape make-up (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal--the dominance of apes over humans--into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right. While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. --Jeff Shannon

• War for the Planet of the Apes | DVD | (27/11/2017) from £3.19   |  Saving you £3.47 (108.78%)   |  RRP £6.66

  Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind.

• Planet of the Apes Triple | DVD | (27/11/2017) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Billed as a "re-imagining" of the original film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honourable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape make-up (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal--the dominance of apes over humans--into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right. While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. --Jeff Shannon

• PLANET OF THE APES TRILOGY BOXSET 4K UHD | 4K UHD | (29/10/2018) from £39.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.

• The Planet of the Apes Collection (six disc box set) | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-16.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.49

  The five films in the Planet of the Apes series are enjoyable as pure entertainment and yet substantial enough to have inspired academic studies about the film's broader political themes. Loosely adapted from the novel by French author Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes was released at the height of racial and political unrest in America, adding resonance to its story of a NASA astronaut (Charlton Heston) stranded on a planet where superior apes dominate inferior human slaves. The film's final image--in which a horrified Heston realises the fate of humankind--remains one of the most indelible in all of science-fiction cinema. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) continues the original's distant future scenario, pitting militant apes against mutant humans dwelling in the subterranean ruins of New York City. Its phenomenal success spawned Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), in which simian scientists Cornelius and Zira (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter, reprising their roles from Planet) travel backward in time, setting the stage for the ape supremacy of the first two films. McDowall returned in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) as Caesar, the son of Cornelius, leading an ape revolution that bridges the historical gap of the previous films. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) ended the five-film cycle with McDowall again playing the chimpanzee leader Caesar, defeating gorillas and human mutants to establish the hierarchy introduced in the original film. The Apes films present a classic what-if scenario that hasn't lost a bit of its potency. As if to prove its cultural endurance, the cycle returned to its origins with director Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes in 2001. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com On the DVD: A glorious indulgence for diehard fans of the series, this handsomely packaged six-disc set contains all five original" Apes" movies, from the wonderful 1967 original to 1973's low-budget Battle. It all look as good as possible in widescreen anamorphic transfers, the first movie's starkly wonderful cinematography in particular is a treat to see on DVD. Planet has been remixed in vivid Dolby 5.1, highlighting the bold sound design and JerryGoldsmith's masterful avant-garde score. The others are good Dolby stereo, with the odd exception of Escape, which is mono. There are trailers on each disc, but no commentaries sadly. The sixth bonus disc consists of a relatively new two-hour documentary hosted by Roddy McDowall which takes us through the entire saga in detail, pointing out the series' daring social commentary and the increasing difficulties of working with progressively smaller budgets. Sensibly, the documentary spends about an hour on the first movie and then an hour discussing all the rest. Overall, this is a very attractive package. --Mark Walker

• War for the Planet of the Apes | 4K UHD | (27/11/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel (Woody Harrelson). But after the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and resolves to avenge his kind, pitting him against the Colonel in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species...and the future of the planet.

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | DVD | (24/11/2014) from £3.49   |  Saving you £16.50 (472.78%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived.

• Planet Of The Apes | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £6.36   |  Saving you £11.63 (182.86%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The original Planet of the Apes is that rarity of the genre: a science fiction film that has dated not one bit: its intelligent script, frightening costuming, and savagely effective conclusion (which needs no big-budget special effects to augment its impact) remain both potent and relevant. When Colonel George Taylor (the fabulous Charlton Heston) crash lands his spacecraft on what seems to be an unfamiliar planet, he is captured and held prisoner by a dominant race of rational, articulate apes. However, the ape community is riven with internal dissension, centred in no small part on its policy toward humans, who, on this planet, are treated as mindless animals. Befriended and ultimately assisted by the more liberal simians, Taylor escapes--only to find a more terrifying obstacle confronting his return home. Heavy-handed object lessons abound--the ubiquity of generational warfare, the inflexibility of dogma, the cruelty of prejudice--and the didactic finger prints of The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling are very much in evidence here. But director Franklin Schaffner has a dark, pop-apocalyptic sci-fi vision all of his own, helped along by Jerry Goldsmith's terrifyingly avant-garde score. And time has not dulled the monumental emotional imp act of the film's climactic payoff shot. --Miles Bethany, Amazon.com

• War for the Planet of the Apes | Blu Ray | (27/11/2017) from £7.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (12.52%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel (Woody Harrelson). But after the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and resolves to avenge his kind, pitting him against the Colonel in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species...and the future of the planet.

• Planet of the Apes: Evolution Collection | DVD | (12/12/2011) from £29.27   |  Saving you £15.72 (53.71%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Titles Comprise:Planet Of The Apes: Charlton Heston stars as an astronaut lost in a world run by evolved apes in this highly influential, Oscar-winning and epic film! (1968)Beneath The Planet Of The Apes: James Franciscus discovers new horrors on the Planet of the Apes, including a subterranean world of highly advanced humans who worship a WMD! Escape From The Planet Of The Apes: Refugee chimps from the feature, Cornelius and Zira (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter), are hunted down as an evolutionary threat in twentieth-century America. (1971)Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes: In the not-too-distant future, an ape named Caesar (Roddy McDowall) defies his human masters, launching a revolt that will change the way the world is run...and by whom. (1972)Battle For The Planet of The Apes: The peaceful coexistence of man and ape is shattered when militant factions of both species clash, igniting an explosive final conflict! (1973)Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes: Set in present day San Francisco, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

• Escape From The Planet Of The Apes | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In the future the Earth is ruled by a race of highly-evolved simians who supplanted humans after a nuclear holocaust. But when the ape-led Earth is threatened with total annihilation a trio of scientists journey backwards through time in order to prevent the catastrophe. Once in the human-led world however they find themselves hunted by a suspicious and fearful government desirous of making them the subjects of an experiment that could alter the course of human and ape events...

• Battle For The Planet Of The Apes | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £4.35   |  Saving you £8.64 (198.62%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Two civilizations battle for the right to inherit what's left of earth! The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization a community of intelligent apes lives in harmony with a group of humans but a community of mutants who reside beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. Footage from the previous installments is effective in providing background information as flashbacks in an attempt t

• Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £6.08   |  Saving you £6.91 (113.65%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This fourth film in the ""Planet of the Apes"" series picks up the action a few years after ""Escape from the Planet of the Apes"" left off. At the end of the third movie the ape Cornelius and his wife Zira were murdered by humans when they traveled back in time. However their son Caesar remained behind with kind-hearted circus owner Armando who kept the ape's existence a secret. ""Conquest of the Planet of the Apes"" opens in 1991 after an epidemic has wiped out the dog population

• Rise of the Planet of the Apes | DVD | (27/02/2012) from £8.25   |  Saving you £11.74 (142.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES combines fantastic storytelling with the next leap in Visual Effects for an emotional and action-packed motion picture experience unlike any other.

• Planet Of The Apes - The Television Series | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £17.05   |  Saving you £-6.81 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.24

  Set around a dozen years after the 1967 Charlton Heston-starring Oscar winner of the same name, this Planet of the Apes is a 1974 TV spin-off that attempts to recapture the appeal of the original apes films. A second spaceship arrives on the planet, the basic plot being the same as in 67, as two surviving humans go on the run with a renegade chimpanzee, Galen (Roddy McDowell essentially reprising his Cornelius character under another name). The actor provides the strongest lead, while Booth Colman as Zaius (replacing Maurice Evans from the original film), offers fine support. The humans Ron Harper and James Naughton are relatively bland, a buddy duo very much anticipating Starsky and Hutch, while the stories, in which our heroes have a new adventure each week and then move on, fall very much into the formula that dominated earlier shows such as The Fugitive, Star Trek and Alias Smith and Jones. This is a post-apocalyptic world where everyone has perfect hair and make-up. But if the action and effects are limited, at least that gives the stories room to concentrate on some moral debates about the nature of human violence. A show finally hamstrung by the tight limitations of its formula, Planet of the Apes: The Television Series lasted only 14 episodes and was cancelled so abruptly it lacks any resolution. Nevertheless its reappearance offers a welcome chance to reassess it in context with the classic movies it apes. On the DVD: Planet of the Apes: The Television Series is presented on four discs, including all 14 episodes. The sound is good mono and the 4:3 colour picture is excellent considering the show's age. Print damage is minor though occasionally quite noticeable, and there is some fading in a few shots. Otherwise this is the best these shows have ever looked. The only extras are trailers for the movie box set and for Tim Burton's 2001 cinema "reimagining". --Gary S Dalkin

• Planet Of The Apes Collection | Blu Ray | (01/12/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £74.99

  Filled with iconic images fierce epic battles and breathtaking twists these action-packed films revolutionized science fiction...and remain as thrilling and timely as ever! Planet Of The Apes: Charlton Heston stars as an astronaut lost in a world run by evolved apes in this highly influential Oscar'-winning and epic film! (1968) Beneath The Planet Of The Apes: James Franciscus discovers new horrors on the Planet of the Apes including a subterranean world of highly advanced humans who worship a WMD! Escape From The Planet Of The Apes: Refugee chimps from the feature Cornelius and Zira (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter) are hunted down as an evolutionary threat in twentieth-century America. (1971) Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes: In the not-too-distant future an ape named Caesar (Roddy McDowall) defies his human masters launching a revolt that will change the way the world is run...and by whom. (1972) Battle For The Planet of The Apes: The peaceful coexistence of man and ape is shattered when militant factions of both species clash igniting an explosive final conflict! (1973)

• Planet Of The Apes | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £5.19   |  Saving you £7.80 (150.29%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Director Tim Burton's eagerly awaited new take on the story of an astronaut (Mark Wahlberg) who crashlands on a strange planet, only to find a civilisation where Apes are the dominant species!

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Blu Ray | (24/11/2014) from £5.25   |  Saving you £20.74 (395.05%)   |  RRP £25.99

  A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace but it proves short-lived as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

• Planet Of The Apes (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £12.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist... Winner of an Honorary Academy Award for Outstanding Make-up Achievement and nominated for two Oscars (1968 Best Costume Design and Best Original Score) Planet of the Apes is grand entertainment from its visually arresting beginning to the chilli

• Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Triple Play (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) | Blu Ray | (12/12/2011) from £12.13   |  Saving you £12.86 (106.02%)   |  RRP £24.99

  RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES combines fantastic storytelling with the next leap in Visual Effects for an emotional and action-packed motion picture experience unlike any other.