Tag: animals

video review : Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

video review : Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

The title is awkward, but it serves as the gist of the plot. It’s a restart of a franchise that began with Franklin Schaffner’s Planet Of The Apes in 1968. Of course, by now, cinematic technology is such that the apes; every one of which is computer-generated using Weta Digital motion capture; look even more alive than they do in real life. The story itself, which revolves around a brain-enhancing retrovirus, isn’t quite as believable, but it is thoroughly entertaining.

This “Planet”, by the way, isn’t in some far-away galaxy. It’s planet Earth. And the story is set during the present time. That means it’s a given that these apes; physically stronger and genetically altered to be even more intelligent than humans; are going to take over as the rulers of the world. The suspense lies in how that happens, which begins with chimpanzees being hunted and captured in the Congo jungle and sold to pharmaceutical labs for testing.

It’s when the lead scientist; a man named Will Rodman; rescues a cute baby from being euthanized by taking it home with him; à la Gremlins; that things start to get interesting. It lives with him and his father, who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s; a disease the scientist proposes the experimental retrovirus might develop into a cure for; growing older and getting smarter, until something goes wrong and it has to be sent away to a sanctuary… with other apes.

From there, it’s an evolution revolution that leads to escape and quite an amazing movie climax. Yes, that final third or fourth is the best part as wild apes unite not necessarily to take over the world at this point but to free themselves from captivity. So they raid public places, causing mass hysteria; the zoos are a primary target; all the while exposing more and more apes to the brain-enhancing retrovirus; a process that itself spreads like a virus.

There’s an ape-versus-human showdown on The Golden Gate Bridge, where police set-up a barricade in an effort to stop the apes, but the police don’t stand a chance. What the humans need, in order to preserve their status as the rulers of the world, is the military. And that, quite literally, means war; an interspecific war of the world. But this is only the prelude. So it’s a war you’re left very-much anticipating by the end of this science-fiction epic.

my rating : 5 of 5

2011

video review : Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
video review : War For The Planet Of The Apes

Alex And Me ( book ) … Irene Pepperberg

Alex And Me ( book ) ... Irene Pepperberg

Alex was a parrot; perhaps the most intelligent parrot to ever live; thanks to years of extensive training at the hands of his owner; scientist and animal cognition professor Irene Pepperberg. She, along with her team of researchers, taught the bird not only to talk but also to understand language and numerical concepts up to about the level of a five-year-old human, which opened doors to new study in the field. In a nutshell, what Alex showed the world is that “bird brain” isn’t such a disparaging term after all.

This book; a memoir; covers the thirty years Irene spent working with Alex without bogging readers down in scientific explanations. The learning experiments she conducted are covered in simple terms and, aside from a few irrelevant details regarding her career struggles, pages fly along fairly interestingly. What’s amazing if true, of course, are the little, often humorous, anecdotes of Alex and his intellectual antics; accounts of him doing things popular science says birds simply shouldn’t be able to do.

my rating : 3 of 5

2008