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ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES
Presently, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES is only available on DVD as part of The Evolution Box Set, which includes all five APES films for $89.98.
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This DVD review 
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DVD
reviews are Copyright © 2001 THE CINEMA LASER and may not be copied
or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. |
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The
PLANET OF THE APES franchise showed no signs of running out of
steam with the arrival of ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES. Despite
the fact that the writers and producers of BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE
APES had written themselves into a corner with that film's apocalyptic
ending- the required inventiveness to get around that obstacle produced
another solid sequel.
Doing
a complete reversal on the first two films, chimpanzee scientists Zira
(Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) salvage the spaceship that
brought astronauts to their world and use it to travel back in time to
present day Earth. At first, Zira and Cornelius are scientific curiosities.
However, when it is learned that they are sentient and able to talk, they
are instantaneously transformed into media celebrities and are given royal
treatment by the US government. However, Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden),
the Whitehouse Scientific Advisor suspects that Zira and Cornelius are
hiding something about their origins and when Zira announces that she
is pregnant, Hasslein becomes convinced that their child could begin the
downfall of mankind. The cast of ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES
also features Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, William Windom, Albert
Salmi, M. Emmet Walsh and Ricardo Montalban.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE
APES available on DVD in a 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that has
NOT been enhanced for 16:9 playback. Other than the lack of the anamorphic
enhancement, the only other problem with ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF
THE APES is brief instability in the image, which would be the result
of print damage causing a few hiccups as the film was being transferred.
Still, the transfer is crisp and offers a good level of detail. Color
saturation is pretty good, with most hues appearing relatively natural,
as do the flesh tones. Blacks are solid and shadow detail is just fine
for a thirty-year-old production. Film grain is minor, as are noticeable
blemishes. Digital compression artifacts are not a problem.
The
Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack sounds pretty good, but the lack of
directionality almost detracts for the experience. There is no distortion
at modest listening levels. The dialogue is always intelligible, although
some voices sound a bit strident at times. A French language track is
also encoded onto the DVD, as are English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Animation and sound enhance the interactive menus, which provide access
to the standard scene selection and set up features, as well as theatrical
trailers for all the PLANET OF THE APES movies.
ESCAPE
FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES is another worthy sequel in the series.
My biggest problem with this DVD is the fact that presentation lacks the
16:9 enhancement. Hopefully, Fox will re-issue ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET
OF THE APES at some point in the future with the anamorphic enhancement.
