No, it’s not a classic, but it will not bore you to tears like Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. Really, that’s all that needs to be said on the matter. But it is the business of a review to fill a certain amount of space, and writing “it will not bore you to tears” does not fill enough of this space. And so I’m forced to say more than needs to be said.

What more shall I say? How about: Not one minute in this movie will put you to sleep. But isn’t that the same as “it will not bore you to tears”? Yes it is. What if I add: This is impressive because all of the action (the ape/human Armageddon) is saved for the ending. Indeed, the main part of Rupert Wyatt’s film—which, of course, has its holes, its predictable plot turns, its dumb lines—is a fascinating family drama.

At the center of this family is a scientist, Will Rodman (James Franco), who has dedicated all of his learning and brilliance to finding a cure for his father’s illness, Alzheimer’s. The son works for a global pharmaceutical corporation that’s based in San Francisco and managed by a black Briton, Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo). (Yes, the fact that the manager is black is very important, but because the importance of the fact is only revealed at the end of the film, I can’t say a word more about it.) Anyway, the black British manager needs results fast, but Rodman’s experiments with the chimps are going nowhere. Finally, his department is closed, and Rodman spares the life of one of the chimps, a baby named Caesar, by secretly taking it home.

Caesar lives in the attic. Caesar is super smart because his mother’s brain was enhanced by some experimental anti-Alzheimer’s drug. Caesar becomes the grandson of the house. So, there’s the core of the family drama: A sick grandfather, a frustrated son, and a chimp grandson. The chimp is raised well enough, but he becomes too attached, too protective, too in love with his human family. The human family ultimately betrays this love and the chimp turns from friend to foe, from son to revolutionary. If the human family will not love him, he will make his own ape family, his own ape world. To borrow the words of UB40 pop tune: “And we shall build our own society, and we shall sing, we shall sing our own song.”

Near the end of the film, a massive gorilla leaps from the Golden Gate Bridge and crashes into a helicopter. In the helicopter is the black Briton. But I can’t get into any of this without being a spoiler. And, besides, I already told you all that needs to be said about this movie.

This article has been updated since its original publication.