The final in summer movie love...

James Franco drives me nuts. I found him a bit awkward before this year's Oscars, and the train wr

eck that was his co-hosting (poor Anne Hathaway) has done nothing to further endeer me to the man. I am sure he is very nice, I see where he has talent, I can barely tolerate watching him.

This is why I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Rise of the Planet of the Apes. As you may have picked up already, I love all things sci-fi, and am a sucker for the continuation of a goofy franchise. This, plus my boyfriend wanting to see it, pulled me into a theater mere moments after the credits rolled on Conan (see my effusive praise on that and my love for Jason Momoa here).

Rise is the prequal to the original Planet of the Apes franchise (please get that Mark Whalberg attrocity out of your heads). Franco plays a scientist studing new Alzheimer's medications who, literally, takes his work home with him. He adopts an adorable chimp as part of the family, without real thought of the consequences.

The film brought me John Lithgow, who will remain one of my favorites forever. And the movie tackles issues-- pretty standard ones like the ethics of animal testing and how far is too far to go when you are researching life-saving drugs-- point being, it is more than just a "monkeys attack!" movie.

And it sets up the franchise well! I wouldn't run to the theater, but this one is definitely worth a rental, even if I did spend the entire film wishing Franco would open his damn eyes all the way and stop staring around through droppy lids.