Every Planet Of The Apes Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

Is there a single other movie out there that can claim to have exceeded expectations the way Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes did?

It was a prequel nobody really asked for, with massive shoes to fill in the shape of the beloved original and a tarnished brand to repair after Tim Burton had his way with it.

But with Rise, director Rupert Wyatt delivered one of the most heartfelt blockbusters of 2011 and exploded the Apes franchise into the modern age.

The film fails where most CGI-heavy projects fail by creating the illusion of tangibility via the latest special effects wizardry, although it certainly helped having mocap master Andy Serkis in the lead role of Ceasar.

For all of its budgetary resources, Rise is, at its core, a touching buddy story between Ceasar and James Franco's good natured scientist, and while their relationship hits home, there's much more to the story than that.

Wyatt's prequel plots a course to the events of the original Planet of the Apes in a way that enriches the series as a whole, and nobody saw it coming.