Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the latest in a franchise that actually has managed to stay reasonably solid for the past few years. The Planet of the Apes brand was rebooted in 2011, and this installment continues the story after the main protagonist’s death.

Wes Ball serves as director of the script that was written by Josh Friedman. The film is based on characters created by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Pierre Boulle wrote the original novel in 1963. The cast includes Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy.

Caesar has died and is remembered by many of the intelligent apes with reverence. Some of his teachings have been maligned and distorted creating a society of some pretty dictatorial and ruthless apes. The protagonist in this one is a young ape named Noa. He seems a pretty amiable sort of simian with friends and family. His father is the leader of the village. Life is pretty good for Noa and his clan.

Well, that life takes a pretty startling turn when his village is raided. Noa manages to escape the clutches of another tribe under the leadership of a tyrannical ape named Proximus, but his tribe has been abducted. He allies himself with another lone, sagacious ape named Raka as he tries to locate his loved ones. They are joined by what they think is a mute human woman they initially name Nova. Nova, however, turns out to be more gifted and intelligent than they realize and certainly isn’t a mute.

Nova is on a quest of her own, and her allegiance to her newfound companions come into question at times. Noa learns some uncomfortable aspects of the history between humans and the apes, and he will have a big fight on his hands to reclaim his tribe and rebuild their homes.

Obviously, the big draw is the visual effects, and the execution here is first-rate. The scenery is quite majestic at times. I know that a heavy reliance on CGI is sometimes a contentious issue among movie fans, but this effort was first class. The performances were quite good. I was not familiar with much of the main cast, but they were well selected. William H. Macy was the only one I could recognize on sight, and as usual, he was quite good.

Freya Allan was also quite compelling as the somewhat dubious Nova. The relationship between Nova and Noa gets a little complicated, and I do not mean in the romantic sense. Fortunately, nothing that weird goes on in this film.

There are times when the movie drags a bit. It’s a bit on the longer side, and it feels like it sometimes. When the pace picks back up, the time is worth it.

Overall, the filmmakers did a pretty good job. There are some moments that are quite moving. I grew to like and sympathize with the heroes. The story does bring up some intriguing questions if there were two species with competing intelligence and motivations and what that would look like.

There are apparently plans to produce another trilogy and this film does the job as far as making me intrigued enough to catch the next one.