The lavish Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes introduces a new primate protagonist

Andy Serkis’ Caesar may be missing from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but his legacy looms large. Since debuting in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Serkis’ protagonist has been the heart and simian soul of the franchise, a chimpanzee freedom fighter who learned to speak and led his brethren to triumph against warring humans. The fourth installment of the reboot series, Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (in theaters May 10), jumps forward a few centuries, long after Caesar has been laid to rest. But his teachings endure as a new protagonist rises to follow in his (prehensile) footsteps.  

Set about 300 years after Caesar’s death, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes introduces a new hero in the form of Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimp living with his family in the post-apocalyptic wilderness. His father, Koro (Neil Sandilands), leads their small village, where the apes have embraced farming and falconry. (Our first introduction to Noa is watching him swing fearlessly above the treetops, searching for an eagle egg that he will raise and train from birth.) But before long, Noa’s peaceful clan is attacked by a group of mask-wearing apes — towering gorillas and chimps on horseback who capture the village’s residents. It's up to Noa to rescue his friends and family from this band of simian invaders.

By Noa’s time, most apes either revere Caesar or have entirely forgotten the charismatic chimp; Noa falls firmly into the latter category. As he’s wandering through the wilderness, he encounters a wise and solitary orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), who schools him on Caesar’s teachings of peace, justice, and a disdain for ape-against-ape violence. With Raka serving as his Orangu-Wan Kenobi, Noa sets out on a perilous journey through the wilds, traversing crumbled cities, overgrown airports, and forgotten observatories in his quest to reunite with his clan.

Along the way, he crosses paths with a mysterious human (played by The Witcher’s Freya Allen), whom Raka and Noa nickname “Nova” (a nod to the series’ many, many female characters of that name). She appears like most humans of her time — savage, mute, and incapable of complicated thought — but Noa soon discovers that this wild child may be hiding secrets of her own.

Their trek brings them to the seaside war camp of the self-styled Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), an ambitious bonobo who’s crowned himself as Caesar’s unofficial successor. He’s the kind of grinning dictator who greets his followers by declaring that every day is a “wonderful day,” and he’s guided by a simpering human, played by William H. Macy, who ploys him with tales of ancient Roman history. By harnessing electricity to create makeshift cattle prods, Proximus’ soldiers have already conquered this corner of the country, and up next, they plan to use their might to eradicate those pesky humans for good.  

Like its predecessors, Kingdom probes big ideas about human (and ape) nature, especially once the young Noa witnesses the violence and ambition of Proximus Caesar’s prison camp. But where previous films tackled thorny issues of prejudice and power, Kingdom remains a bit more removed: Sure, the film flirts with concepts like fascism, authoritarianism, and how opportunistic leaders can twist history for their own gain, but it never really engages with them beyond a surface level. Kingdom especially drags in the third act, as its nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime starts to sag.

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Far more successful are the early scenes of Noa’s journey through the wilderness: Teague’s wide-eyed chimp makes for a compelling hero, whether he’s bravely scaling cliffs to obtain an eagle egg or reluctantly sharing meals with Nova over a campfire. As a pure ape-versus-wild survival story, Kingdom is a thrill, and Ball captures his lush, post-apocalyptic jungle in gorgeous detail. (Up next, the director is helming the highly anticipated adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, and watching Noa wander through the wilderness, it’s easy to imagine how Ball might bring that same care and sense of wonder to his big-screen depiction of Hyrule.)

More than anything, Kingdom simply looks beautiful: Each of the apes is rendered in loving detail, elevated by soulful motion-capture performances. (Teague is especially great as the heroic Noa, flitting between deep human emotion and animalistic rage in an instant.) And in a summer movie landscape littered with cynical reboots and quippy superhero sequels, there’s something refreshing about Kingdom’s earnestness, following Noa on a true hero’s journey. Caesar may be gone, but Noa is a more than worthy successor. Grade: B