Even from my position as president of the anti CGI society, I really enjoyed it. As you say, the pace of the film carries it along which probably papers over one or two cracks. It does swing from one type of film to another (passing through cute, comic, thriller) before settling on a more conventional ending. So much so, that a chorus of ”Hey Hey We’re the Monkeys” wouldn’t have been out of place in the closing credits.

Most notable point of the evening however was that I have never (yes that’s never) seen our local cinema so crowded as it was last night. This was confirmed by the staff. The opening night of “The Inbetweeners” coupled with an Orange Wednesday caused chaos and queues not seen in Romford since the opening of the Primark January sales.

This had a knock on effect of every seat taken for the Planet of the Apes film, with two thirds of the audience made up of people who had failed to get into their actual film of choice. This created a moment that I’m sure the producers of Planet of the Apes hadn’t bargained for, when a cry of “Bus Wankers” went out at one of the climatic scenes of the movie. (Check your Inbetweeners references for why).

I loved it. Having worked through most of the blockbusters this summer (including the disappointing Cowboys And Aliens), for me it's been the one with the most emotive content (Harry Potter - huh?), best sfx and best action sequence(s).

I thought the length was right. The spreading of the contagion shown through the end credits sets it up nicely for what could be a really interesting second film with mankind terminally weakened and apes in the ascendancy.

Arguably it should have been called "Genesis of the Planet of the Apes" which would have been a better and far more inflammatory title in the US. This title, "Rise" makes it sound like a done deal, which it obviously isn't.

The performances were all good.I don't think the film needed anymore on Franco and Pinto's relationship or Lithgow's recovery then relapse into dementia to care for the characters. The nice ones were nice and the nasty ones horrible - standard, but I don't think it needed any more psychology than that. We bring about our downfall because one man's hubris involves the pursuit of profit over common sense? That's hardly a new message in the current climate, but I do think it gives a certain surface depth that people can relate to (if that doesn't sound contradictory).

Serkis' performance is a thing of subtle wonder, communicated solely through the eyes of Caesar. maybe it's a rehash of his Kong work, but it's still bloody good.

Best summer blockbuster this year.

I wasn't expecting much, but I thought it was great. Nicely paced, well acted, very impressive CGI and Andy Serkis was brilliant.

Can't wait for part two.

I really enjoyed it - I loved the fast pace and the fact that it wasn't too long.

Why is it that three-quarters of the audience leaps up as soon as the end credits come up and stampede for the door. Some of them missed the final scene completely and others sort of froze on the stairs wondering if they ought to sit back down again. We always stay in our seats for as long as possible as many films now have an extra revealing scene right at the end.

I also enjoyed it. I especially liked the footage of the Icarus taking off, and the subsequent 'Lost in space' headline. A nice touch.

Incidentally, the director is British. Rupert Wyatt also directed The Escapist, a very different film which also featured Brian Cox.

PS. For those interested, 'Rise...' outstrips Tim Burton's poor effort at rebooting this franchise.

I was so looking forward to this movie. It really is my kind of thing - science fictiony but not overly technology/action/testosterone oriented.

But my husband and I both thought it was awful. The story didn't make a lot of sense. Okay, you have to allow for the main, highly unlikely, premise. I'm fine with that. But so much of what happened just didn't bear up well to really thinking about.

And the writing was terrible! Or maybe it was just that the acting was so bad. Most of the actors were so clearly 'acting.'

We were actually both bored and wouldn't have minded if the projector had broken down half way through!

Now I feel like some sort of crank considering how much everybody else liked it!

Although I accept all of the criticisms about the acting and CGI chimps.
And I'm prepared to say that despite the fact that it further disproves my theory that any film advertised on the side of a bus must be rotten - which had started looking wobbly after X Men First Class...

I quite enjoyed it, the development of Caesar's story, but got bored half-way through the obligatory big battle scene.

I thought the close-up CGI worked well but I have yet to see any CGI that makes a person/animal/monster jump, leap or land at all realistically.