DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

I was looking forward to watch this movie but I must say I was disappointed by it. Starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell and so on, it continues from the 2011 movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" starring Andy Serkis and James Franco.

It was quite a long movie and the story took place in San Francisco, ten years after the Simian Flu Virus that escaped from a research facility following the first movie spread throughout the world. Caesar, the leader of the Apes, and his community had not seen humans since two winters ago and thought all of mankind perished until they came across a few human survivors led by Jason Clarke's Malcolm. The storyline was weak and didn't quite pick up after that and it was a letdown all the way to the end, even with Andy Serkis and Gary Oldman around.

The ending was once again open-ended, possibly as a lead up to any possible sequel. However, judging from this movie, I doubt the box-office takings would be optimistic enough to warrant a continuation of the this movie. Thank goodness James Franco didn't act in this movie.

Andy Serkis's Caesar, leader of the Apes

Koba, the ape who only learnt hate from the humans

Malcom and his team in search of the dam to restore power to the city

Malcolm

a visibly older Keri Russell of "Felicity" fame as Ellie

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

Today's weather - sunny

This movie was made for a mature audience compared to the recent one "Mirror Mirror" starring Julia Roberts and gave a different take on the same fairy tale. It was darker and more entertaining, by my standards.


This newer version stars Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Chris Hemsworth as Eric the widowed Huntsman and Sam Claflin as Prince William. The movie drew flak in the US for getting normal height actors to portray the seven dwarfs and used CGI effects to superimpose their heads onto real life dwarf actors.


I know I am biased but I absolutely adore Charlize in her role as the cold, icy and evil queen who was driven to desperation by the circumstances surrounding her life. She was as excellent and splendid as I expected her to be and her name Ravenna was supposedly chosen to draw a parallel between her and the crows that gave her form. On the other hand, I felt Kristen was miscast as the pure, innocent and yet strong-minded Snow White. She definitely looked older than her character and at times, I thought she channeled Bella from the "Twilight" movie series with the same limited sad and longing expression. I think some other actress would have been more suitable than her to play Snow White. There was no breakthrough for Chris though and he was in his usual form. At certain angles, his entire face and facial hair reminded me of a half-man and half-ape. I would definitely suggest that he plays the role of an ape or ape-man in movies such as "Planet of the Apes". Sam played second fiddle as the Prince who surprisingly, wasn't the one who revived Snow White from death. In fact, unbeknownst to all, Eric was the one who broke the spell when he kissed Snow White on her death bed. From the Huntsman who was sent to hunt her down and kill her, he ended up protecting her until the very end.


The mystical dark forest and the sanctuary, where fairies live, were interesting and provided a stark contrast between the two. The latter was beautiful and was every bit like an enchanted forest with magical creatures and plants. Like the characters Snow White, Eric and the seven dwarfs, I was completely immersed in the fairy land until the magical white stag was suddenly shot by an arrow from the pursuing army and burst the bubble.


Finally, the ending showed Snow White being crowned as the Queen and with her were all her loyal subjects including Prince William, but she appeared distracted and looked around until her gaze fell on Eric. Only then did she finally relax and manage a smile. From this, it was evident that even Snow White could not resist Thor, I mean the widowed Huntsman. It is poignant because despite her power, she would not be able to get together with Eric given their different social status. The movie ended on that note, presumably to give viewers the room to decide for themselves how they want it to end.