Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist seeking a cure for Alzheimer's disease, a disease that has stricken his father (Christopher Plummer). He is testing his new drug on apes. He finds that one of his apes, Caesar (Andy Serkis) shows unusually high levels of intelligence. When Caesar responds aggressively to some of the corporate suits, the project is closed down. Secretly and illegally Will takes Caesar home where he is treated as one of the family and when Caesar again displays anger he is removed and sent to an ape sanctuary where he is treated harshly.

The first of the PLANET OF THE APES re-boot trilogy following the failure of the 2001 film feels every bit like the start of a franchise trilogy rather than a stand alone film in its own right. References to the original series are abound as they should be. The CGI uses motion capture of Serkis as Caesar and was improved in the next films with the film a little slow moving in places. Followed by the superior DAWN FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (2014).