Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Show business in general, and the movie industry in particular, can be a cruel mistress, with seemingly no rational explanation for what appeals to either the ticket buying populace or those curmudgeonly critic types. Simply contrasting two now iconic 1968 science fiction films is a salient case in point. If various online sources are to be believed, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes opened either on the same April day, or within a day or two of each other, but the films’ ambitions and ultimate fates really couldn’t be more different. Kubrick’s brainy and seemingly opaque opus was greeted with a mixture of consternation and even derision, at least initially, making decent if not outrageously huge money on its original roadshow release (and then going on to huge receipts as its cult reputation grew and subsequent rereleases followed). Planet of the Apes had no similar high falutin’ goals, and as my colleague Casey Broadwater mentioned in his Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the original pentalogy were really gussied up B movies for all intents and purposes, though the first film’s screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling did have a certain intellectual acuity mixed in with somewhat sillier elements. The first film nonetheless received much more consistently positive reviews than Kubrick’s film did, and while its ultimate box office haul was dwarfed by 2001: A Space Odyssey’s performance, at the time Planet of the Apes was considered “the” science fiction success story of 1968. Planet of the Apes’ perhaps unexpected connection with the ticket buying populace was a much needed bright spot for 20th Century Fox, then in the midst of severe reeling from a number of either extraordinarily expense films which at least recouped some of their money at the boxoffice (Cleopatra ), or extraordinarily expenseve films which more or less tanked at the box office (Doctor Dolittle, Star!, the latter of which wouldn’t appear until a few months after 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes had both debuted). That in turn may have helped grease the wheels for the large number of follow up properties to the first film which appeared, not to mention a relatively short lived television series, and then in 2001 Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake, one which ironically met with the same sort of bifurcated critical response that 2001: A Space Odyssey initially had. The film nonetheless raked in several hundred million dollars, but it still wasn’t until a decade or so later when screewriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and director Rupert Wyatt went back to the drawing board and came up with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which has now led to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the highly anticipated War for the Planet of the Apes, suggesting this franchise is going to be going strong for the foreseeable future. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is now revisiting Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 4K UHD in what is an obvious marketing tie in to the upcoming Apes theatrical release.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Unlike Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was shot on film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was digitally captured, but like its predecessor it, too, was finished at a 2K DI. While the upticks in general detail and fine detail levels are once again noticeable if subtle in this new 4K UHD presentation, many along the same lines as those seen in Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4K, I personally found the CGI generally a bit more convincing in this upgrade than I did with Rise. While again on the subtle side, HDR has added some really interesting new nuance to the kind of drab and dreary tones that often reside in the green and gray areas of the spectrum, and provides at least a bit more pop with regard to some of the evocative blues that are on display. HDR may also have helped delineate some of the blacks in the film, especially when some of the apes with darker fur are in front of similarly shadowy backgrounds. Occasional CGI elements, like explosions or fire like gunshots, can have a slightly cartoony ambience, though these moments are typically quite brief.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 4K UHD disc features the same DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track assessed in my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray review, one which I gave top marks to then and which I mirror in this review. That said, as I also mentioned in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray review, some consumers may be disappointed by the fact that Fox didn't upgrade the audio to either Dolby Atmos or DTS:X for this release.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Only the commentary track detailed in my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray review is ported over to the 4K UHD disc as supplements. As usual, this package also comes with a 1080p Blu-ray disc which contains all of the supplements I list in that review. Additionally, this comes with a paper insert containing a code which allows streaming of a sneak preview for the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes took the momentum established by Rise of the Planet of the Apes and arguably perceptibly increased it, which means expectations may be outsized for the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes. This 4K UHD version offers some subtle but noticeable upgrades, but like its sibling also being released in 4K UHD, its lack of a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X track may be disappointing to some. Also like Rise, Fox has only ported over the commentary as the sole supplement on the 4K UHD disc.