My views of the childish plot can be summed up with the following:

I'm mounting a peace expedition to talk to the apes; who do I take?

First, I'll take my girlfriend who has medical expertise. She'll be more valuable to us than she would here in the colony taking care of the sick and indigent, of which their are surprisingly few.

Next, I'll take my teenage son because he refuses to take no for an answer. What's a poor father to do?

Finally, since this is an extremely important peace mission, I'll take the guy who previously shot an ape, shows no self control at all, and obviously wishes they were all dead. What could go wrong?

A great team, let's move out.

Positives:

• Directing
• Andy Serkis
• Main cast
• Special effects (Specially the apes)
• Musical score
• Pacing

• Most of the human characters

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is at the same time a great Planet of the Apes movie and a terrific science fiction movie. The way speech is brought upon in the movie is amazing and really brings a lot of reality to something so out of the box. The tension is palpable through the whole movie and there's never a dull moment.