10 Movie Remakes That Ripped Off Audiences

2. Planet Of The Apes (2001)

Planet Of The Apes Ending.jpg
20th Century Fox

Not only was Tim Burton'€™s Planet Of The Apes the first film to employ the dreaded €œreimagining€ label, it gave the term a concrete definition. Judging by the level of wit and creativity on display here, it means a rushed and pointless film that throws out the original in favour of a third-rate Twilight Zone episode. So incredibly slipshod in its storytelling that neither Burton nor his cast could explain the plot, Apes €™01 has the distinction of being the only movie in the franchise where nothing is satisfactorily explained, characters and plot points are introduced and discarded at random and the big €˜reveal€™ at the climax still leaves viewers scratching their heads.

At least the cast is good, with Tim Roth, Paul Giamatti and David Warner (among others) unrecognizable beneath Rick Baker€™'s make-up, which turns out to be an unexpected blessing: you can'€™t see the actors cringe at lines like "€œNever send a monkey to do a man'€™s job".€

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'