Put simply before ‘Star Wars’ the ‘Apes franchise’ was the most significant and popular science fiction series on the planet (and that includes the original Star Trek television series).

After mixed critical reception and results at the box office and despite looking great, the Tim Burton remake has widely been seen as misguided and not a patch on the original. So the question is why after ten years has Twentieth Century Fox given the green light for this prequel?

I have to admit after viewing the trailers I was concerned this would be a CGI heavy farce but decided to give it a go based solely on a mixture of my love of the original film and nostalgia.

This sees scientist Will (James Franco) experimenting on apes in the hope of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s to help his ailing father (John Lithgow). Will finds himself adopting Caesar (a CGI Andy Serkis), an infant chimpanzee who grows up in the scientist’s house, forming a strong bond with the humans. Caesar is no ordinary chimpanzee however, as he has inherited super intelligence from his deceased mother.

Tom Felton and Brian Cox are both on good form as Caesar’s (eventual) jailers and provide the film with hissable villains as does David Oyelowo as head of a research laboratory where experiments on the apes are carried out. Basically Will’s motives are good ones but as the old saying goes ‘the road to calamity is paved with good intentions.’

There are plenty of references to the original: Caesar’s mother is called ‘Bright Eyes’ (Dr Zira’s ‘pet’ name for Taylor), there are also news reports of astronauts lost in space, and in the background in one of the scenes is a Charlton Heston film on television. The famous line ‘Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!’ is uttered once again.

The original film saw the orang-utans’ as the politicians, the chimpanzee’s as the scientists, and the gorillas as the enforcers. Well, even in these early stages we can see the beginning of that social structure and hierarchy, which is a nice touch. The script is surprisingly intelligent and subtle, and unnecessary barnstorming theatrics are deftly avoided.

The funny moments are thankfully intentional. For the most part ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ succeeds as a tense, dramatic, thrilling and even emotive film. You will find yourself rooting for the apes and their quest for emancipation.

The makers of this entry seem to have got it right and for my money this is worthy of the original and certainly much better than the weaker 1970s sequels and 2001 remake.