This is not the summer for interspecies cooperation. In "Cats and Dogs," the prissy kitties fling ninja stars at their jowly canine foes while purring oaths of world domination. And in the new version of "Planet of the Apes," Capt. Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) is flung through a space-time continuum into the future to a planet where apes rule over humans.

There, simians like the gorilla soldier Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan) wear menacing army uniforms and growl, "Take your stinkin' hands off me, you damn, dirty human." By giving that line to Mr. Duncan, the mentally underdeveloped black victim-martyr in "The Green Mile," this remake of "Planet" shows a sparkling guile. The picture plays on the best-known image of Mr. Duncan as an embarrassing, shuffling child-behemoth and lays claim to one of the signature lines of dialogue from the original film. The director Tim Burton can offer a keen intelligence about racial humor.

The movie can be both a gas and distant, a toy sealed in its unbreakable box. It is remote and overly expositional for long stretches at a time, a slide-show tour of "Planet of the Apes." Mr. Burton veers between his usual course of portent and mockery, which can be glimpsed in the opening credits. There are close-ups of angry ape hieroglyphs and intimidating dark armor accompanied by a brooding overture by the composer and longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman; it's ominous with a hint of schlock.

The jokes and scares build to a lovely touch — a swirl of stars dotting the skies reminiscent of "The Twilight Zone," whose creator, Rod Serling, was a co-writer of the script of the 1968 original. This starry expanse is being navigated by a spaceship, and there's a cut to the deliberately moving hand of a chimp working the craft's controls. It's revealed to be a space-ship simulator, and Leo is training the primate, Pericles, for an exploratory flight.

Mr. Burton, working with the screenwriters William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, allows for glimmers of wit and energy, and the film's first five minutes are a graceful sprint of entertainment and information; not a motion is wasted.

When the pod with Pericles is launched and lost, Leo jumps into another ship to rescue him. Swallowed into a nebula, Leo crash-lands on another world. Until this point, "Planet" has been partly a tease toying with expectations. When Leo thuds into the planet's jungle, a maddeningly intense chase begins. It's a literal manhunt, and in this brutal, swift sequence, gorillas stalk and capture fleeing humans. The gorillas scramble ferociously, all four limbs propelling them forward. They move close to the ground, hurtling like cannonballs. This is the most potent image in "Planet," with the gorillas thundering across the screen like a bad dream. It's another way Mr. Burton and his team plant their own flag on the new "Planet." In the original, the apes hopped, moving like marionettes. Here they're proud animals not trying to imitate human movement — they vault around the rooms and bounce off the walls.

The proudest of them is General Thade (Tim Roth), a preening, vindictive chimp with ambitions to rule and do away with the compacts that govern ape society. "Declare martial law," he murmurs in a voice that implies how much wanton anger he's keeping in check; his larynx quavers with the effort.

The mercurial mixture of rage and disgust — a trembling contempt — is a brilliant conceit on Mr. Roth's part; he treats every social situation as if he's marking his territory. His turn complements a jarring cameo by Charlton Heston, star of the original film, who plays his father. Mr. Roth's flamboyant insouciance dovetails neatly into Mr. Heston's majestic hamminess — a pair of alpha male animals vying for the light. Maybe it's just that the ape makeup humanizes Mr. Heston, but he's enchanting.

"Planet" creates a tension in the audience partly because of our expectations. The first "Planet of the Apes," perhaps the most ingenious sci-fi film ever made, was a landmark: the first B-picture with a major motion picture budget, setting a new tone for a genre synonymous with laughable chintziness. The movie was adapted from a first-rate allegorical novel ("La Planète des Singes") by Pierre Boulle, who used it as a way to slap around European class consciousness; the book is part Jane Austen, part Jules Verne and part Céline.

This new version tries to preserve the class warfare in the novel and to incorporate ideas from "Planet of the Apes as American Myth," Eric Greene's resourceful 1996 social analysis of the film and its sequels. Mr. Greene thoughtfully examined the racial politics that made the pictures both tough minded and slightly repugnant.

When Mr. Burton's "Planet" fixes on being entertaining as single-mindedly as the gorillas bearing down on homo sapiens, it succeeds. But the picture states its social points so bluntly that it becomes slow-witted and condescending; it treats the audience as pets. There's a faint air of absurdity in the coarse mix of satire and show-biz cynicism; this picture has as much ambition about conquering the box office as General Thade does in taking over the monkey planet.

The sometimes determined twinkle in Mr. Burton's eye exists in direct opposition to Mark Wahlberg's steely politesse. Mr. Wahlberg is a man of action who still carries the contradictions of a street kid: dark, inscrutable eyes framed by impish brows and a brawny, I-don't- need-nobody swagger that makes him a hip-hop Cagney. Surprisingly, his husky whisper can hit an empathetic high note of concern; he often ends a line with a plaintive "O.K.?" — a vocal gesture like a comforting hand on a shoulder.

Like several other hip-hop artists turned actors, Mr. Wahlberg has mastered the fine art of underplaying. In movies like "Three Kings" or "The Yards," where the directors know how to set off Mr. Wahlberg's subtlety against the passion in the material, he's a gem. Mr. Burton is better suited to actors who need to set off sparks, like Paul Giamatti as Limbo, the wheedling orangutan who traffics in human slaves; he's W. C. Fields in mottled red fur.

Yet Mr. Wahlberg seems lost here, heroic but not in a particularly vital way. By depriving its hero of definition, "Planet" misses the brawny sexual forthrightness that Mr. Heston brought to the original. With his hip-first gait and broad-shouldered masculinity, he was the All-American Cro-Magnon who had got up on the wrong side of the bed. (In a lovably cheap irony, he was less couth than the apes, most of whom were doctors. The original "Planet," directed with old-school courtliness by Franklin J. Schaffner, embraced the ugly American archetype.) Mr. Heston's glowering impatience injected undercurrents of interstellar/ interspecies love that brought the movie to a boil; he sized up Kim Hunter in her chimp makeup as if she was freshly grilled mutton. Mr. Burton has always had a prepubescent fear of sexuality; here it translates into a film that's fit for 6-year- olds of all ages.

Substituting for Ms. Hunter, Helena Bonham Carter as Ari, a simian with a sympathy for humans, uses her vocal powers to convey emotion. She does a good job of it, since her makeup is a little rigid and masklike. Her mouth is well defined, though, as if she's wearing lipstick.

It's startling how much the apes' skin approximates the leathery textures of real simian flesh. The makeup designer Rick Baker has probably waited his whole career for this chance, and it was worth it in at least one instance. Mr. Roth's makeup is bewitching and by far the most effective in terms of articulation of movement and individuality. With a few exceptions, the others suffer by comparison. Not only do the gorillas all look the same, but they also sound just like Attar, which makes it hard to keep track of who's who in their army. But the menacing atmosphere of the monkey planet, with its dark, cave-like interiors designed by Rick Heinrichs, is quite distinct.

Estella Warren's Daena is at least given dialogue, unlike the mute human female in the first "Planet." She's not bad, though she's better at wounded, pouty looks. There are also a lot of heads turning theatrically toward the cameras, as if every scene had to have a shot that could be excerpted for the trailers.

This activity may be overly dramatic, but it's clear. Such a claim can't be made for the very last scene, a puzzler — not to be revealed here — that negates the glib, chest-pounding dramaturgy that comes before. "Planet of the Apes" has an extraordinary burden: it has to live up to the shocking denouement of the original film. This, too, will leave audiences talking — they'll be muttering, "What happened?"

     "Planet of the Apes" is the least surprising movie of the summer. It's not only that after the original 1968 film, four sequels plus two television series, everyone who cares knows the underlying material; it's also that the sensibility of its director is equally well-known and twice as predictable. They haven't called this "Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes," but they might as well have.
     Grimmer than the Brothers Grimm put together, Burton is the creator of increasingly bleak and unhappy fairy tales like "Batman," "Batman Returns" and "Sleepy Hollow." His thrust is dark, morose and deeply interior, so much so that it's one of the paradoxes of today's Hollywood that his hermetic tendencies have made him the director of choice for multimillion-dollar mass entertainments.
     The key reason for Burton's preeminence is very much on display in "Planet of the Apes," and that is his exceptional visual gift. The film's look is always the first thing on this director's mind, and he is quite good at making believable the strange worlds he and his frequent collaborator, production designer Rick Heinrichs, dream up, in this case that familiar planet where apes rule and humans are considered soulless slaves.
     Making even more of an impression this time is the physical presence of the apes themselves. With complex makeup created by six-time Oscar winner Rick Baker that took more than three hours to apply and with Colleen Atwood's vivid costumes, including nifty conical military headgear, these apes are, as might be expected, considerably more plausible than those of three decades past.
     What Burton is less good at is investing his strange universes with a convincing interior life. The film's script, credited to William Broyles Jr. and Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal, is over-plotted and under-dramatized, and its sporadic attempts at comic relief end up being neither comic nor a relief. Outside of a hyper-energetic, irresistibly evil portrayal by Tim Roth as General Thade, the baddest ape in town, the sad truth about "Planet of the Apes" is that, disappointingly, it's just not very much fun to watch.
     The original 1968 film and its topsy-turvy social order, coming out as it did at a particularly volatile time in American history, was not intended solely as fun either, and the author of the underlying novel, Frenchman Pierre Boulle (who also wrote "The Bridge Over the River Kwai") apparently wanted his book considered "a social fantasy."
     That sense of through-the-looking-glass reverse racism remains at the heart of the new project. "Take your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human," is the first sentence downed American Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) hears from a dominant ape on his new planet. As the film progresses, apes wonder if humans have souls or are capable of real culture, and are cautioned to always to use gloves when handling this violent, sub-simian species.
     Although racial problems obviously persist today, those kinds of lines play as more quaint than provocative in the new film. Out-and-out silly are the attempts to give apes more clearly human characteristics by having them wear frilly nightgowns, use deodorants and complain about bad hair days. Worse still is the idea of giving orangutan slave trader Limbo (Paul Giamatti) the kind of "you are giving me such a headache" dialogue usually associated with Jackie Mason.
     What plays best, frankly, are apes on the attack. Riding horses or hanging from branches, leaping high off walls or loping along on all fours, these armored, uniformed apes in action convey the sense of another world better than anything else.
     As fearless as their apes, Burton and his screenwriters have not hesitated to depart in ways large and small from the first film. This new planet is not Earth, humans on it can talk and the inevitable twist at the film's conclusion goes all the way back to the one featured in Boulle's novel.
     Also new is what gets Leo Davidson onto the planet in the first place. He and his fellow astronauts are on a huge space station doing, of all things, research on ape intelligence, seeing if they can get chimpanzees to pilot small spacecraft in dangerous situations.
     A series of things going wrong lands Davidson in ape territory, where he is captured along with renegade humans Karubi (Kris Kristofferson) and his fetching blond daughter Daena (Estella Warren). Even worse is no doubt in store for him, but he attracts the attention of the politically well-connected ape Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a human rights activist who believes "it's disgusting the way we treat humans. It demeans us as much as it does them."
     Taking the opposite point of view is the human-hating General Thade, likely the most terrifying chimpanzee in movie history, who can be taken at his word when he says, "Extremism in defense of apes is no vice." Few actors can be as forceful as Roth, a quality that is an advantage when playing a role inside an ape suit. The ferocious Roth, who shares a strong scene with unbilled "Planet" veteran Charlton Heston as his dying father, knew what he was doing when he reportedly turned down the role of Professor Snape in the new Harry Potter film in favor of this juicy, galvanic performance.
     On the other side of the species gap, Wahlberg displays welcome presence and a natural gravity, but he doesn't get much help from "Driven" veteran Warren or the rest of the human race. With their simian characteristics amplified by time in "Ape School," the actors in the nonhuman roles are mostly too buried by makeup to make strong impressions, although rival big men Attar (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Krull (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) do get our attention.
     Unfortunately, none of the good work counts as much as you'd think it would. Filled with ponderous musings about the dangers of technology and the way history rewards cruelty with power, "Planet of the Apes" shows that taking material too seriously can be as much of a handicap as not taking it seriously at all.

     MPAA rating: PG-13, some sequences of action/violence. Times guidelines: The tone is often dark and threatening, but the action is not overly intense.

"Planet of the Apes," Tim Burton's "reimagining" of Franklin Schaffner's 1968 science fiction movie, turns out to be retro in spades, a return to the lush Hollywood storytelling of old with a large cast, lavish costumes and art direction and a fragment of social consciousness to carry through all the action, blood and hints of sexuality. While it's fun to revisit this nearly forgotten planet in the company of a master of movie magic, one gets the feeling that Burton never found a way to embrace this place and make it his own. For the movie fails to rise to the high emotional and imaginative standards Burton has set for himself in such films as "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood" and the first two "Batman" movies. 

Anticipation of this film, coupled with its ability to satisfy hard-core male fans, translates into a huge opening weekend and a lengthy stay in theaters worldwide. Whether this will re-establish a franchise for Fox, one that previously produced four sequels plus two TV series, is less certain since critical and female response is likely to be mixed.

Drawbacks? Well, the story doesn't hold up any longer than it takes to get home. The film's lead, Mark Wahlberg, doesn't command the screen with nearly the authority Charlton Heston lent to the original movie. Wahlberg can be a good and interesting actor in modern-day roles, but he lacks the physical and emotional heft to take charge of a costume epic. Finally, the ending -- or rather the double ending, as Burton evidently wanted a final twist to set up a sequel -- is more likely to elicit groans.

The basic time travel that sets the movie in motion makes little sense and, by the final fadeout, none at all. The movie begins in 2029, when Wahlberg's astronaut, Capt. Leo Davidson, blasts through an electrical storm in outer space and crash lands on a primordial planet where apes rule and humans are slaves or outcasts.

The impetus behind Pierre Boulle's novel (and the original film) -- namely, a discussion of race relations -- does get lip service here, but this feels more like PSAs required by some federal regulatory body inserted between chases and fights.

Once he gets his bearings, Davidson organizes a revolt of humans, who break out of the confines of Ape City with the help of an ape "human rights activist," Ari (Helena Bonham Carter). He leads the frightened pack to a promised land across a desert and, since apes are afraid of water, a river. Giving chase is simian bad guy Thade (Tim Roth), a crypto-fascist chest beater, and his hairy minions.

Burton and writers William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal mostly play this straight, though occasional campy lines -- such as an ape complaining about her bad hair day or borrowed quotes from Barry Goldwater and Rodney King -- demonstrates a lack of faith in the material itself.

One very funny bit has Heston turn up as an aging and dying master ape. All of his dialogue contains lovely double meanings if one recalls the original flick.

Burton is, of course, adept at creating unreal fantasy worlds. Just witness "Sleepy Hollow." But here a certain carelessness creeps in. His sun-lit exteriors clash at times with the darker soundstage sets. But mostly he has done an effective job of conveying the viewer to another time and place.

Rick Baker's makeup improves on the masks of the 1968 version, giving the apes scary, nonhuman teeth and different facial looks for each character that range from Carter's graceful, even fragile face to Roth's savage, anger-hardened features.

Curiously, the humans gradually start looking alike while the primates develop distinctive characters. The most successful performances belong to Carter, who has genuine femininity and sensitivity as a liberal-leaning ape; Paul Giamatti as the duplicitous orangutan Limbo, a sleazy trader in humans as slaves and pets; and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a dignified ex-general.

Among the humans, Kris Kristofferson isn't around long enough to register, while Estella Warren looks beautiful, but her role appears to have suffered in the editing room. (For that matter, most of the human interaction seems to have been cut away.) Clearly, by the movie's end, Warren is meant to mean something special to Wahlberg, but this never unfolds on screen.

Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot and longtime Burton colleagues including production designer Rick Heinrichs and costume designer Colleen Atwood contribute sleek, professional work. Danny Elfman's music strains for the heroic, borrowing everywhere from Holst's "The Planets" to John Williams. But if it's not on the screen, the composer can do only so much.

PLANET OF THE APES
20th Century Fox
Zanuck Co.
Producer: Richard D. Zanuck
Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriters: William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Based on a novel by: Pierre Boulle
Executive producer: Ralph Winter
Director of photography: Philippe Rousselot
Production designer: Rick Heinrichs
Music: Danny Elfman
Costume designer: Colleen Atwood
Editor: Chris Lebenzon
Special makeup effects: Rick Baker
Visual effects supervisor: Bill George
Casting: Denise Chamian
Color/stereo
Cast: 
Capt. Leo Davidson: Mark Wahlberg
Thade: Tim Roth
Ari: Helena Bonham Carter
Attar: Michael Clarke Duncan
Limbo: Paul Giamatti
Daena: Estella Warren
Krull: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Sandar: David Warner
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13 

BOSTON (Variety) - What seemed like a delectable pairing on paper -- Tim Burton and ``Planet of the Apes'' -- turns out to be a mismatch on the screen. 

Largely listless and witless, this extensive reworking of the 1968 sci-fi favorite simply isn't very exciting or imaginative; most surprisingly, given the material, it's also Burton's most conventional and literal-minded film, the one most lacking in his trademark poetic weirdness and bracing flights of fancy. 

The brand name and enticing ingredients should produce opening biz that will warrant chest-beating from Fox, enough to launch it to robust if not sensational domestic box office and an even more muscular international career. On the other hand, a series of sequels, such as the original spawned, seems highly unlikely. 

With the talent involved as well as the advances in makeup and special effects in recent years, an ``Apes'' redo seemed justifiable as these things go; certainly there was room for an edgier and more provocative table-turning of human-simian relations. But while the technology has permitted some advances -- rather mild ones, as it turns out -- the scripting hits nothing but obvious and tiresome topical notes, with ''political'' parallels that may generate snorts of recognition in viewers but are nothing more than cheap gags one might expect in a collegiate revue on the same subject. 

And when Mark Wahlberg utters the immortal line, ``Never send a monkey to do a man's job,'' as he sets out on his trip through time and space, one can't help but think that a boy has been sent on a man's job in trying to fill Charlton Heston's loincloth. Indeed, the erstwhile Dirk Diggler doesn't even risk the comparison, remaining in his tattered Air Force flight suit throughout. But to see Wahlberg move with such a blank sense of purpose through this alien universe is to be reminded anew of the qualities -- physical and otherwise -- that Heston brought to intense, driven heroic roles. 

Space-set 15-minute opening isn't bad, with Wahlberg's Captain Leo Davidson, on a humongous U.S. space station in the year 2029, concentrating on training chimps to pilot small ''unmanned'' pods on potentially hazardous exploratory missions. When his favorite student becomes lost in an electromagnetic storm, Leo follows him in unauthorized pursuit, passing through a major time warp before plummeting into a tropical forest, in a sequence very like the plane crash in ``Jurassic Park III.'' 

The lords of this jungle are only moderately less beastly than hungry raptors. Eliminating the suspensefully ominous cat-and-mouse of the earlier ``Apes,'' a production that was greenlit by then-Fox production chief and this film's producer Richard D. Zanuck, new version reveals Leo's enemies at once, as some soldier apes round up a ragtag band of humans and take them to market in Ape City. 

Unlike the brilliant studio-created settings of so many of his other pictures, Burton seems boxed in by production designer Rick Heinrichs' enormous set, which is neither visually appealing nor stylized in an interesting way. Before long, a picture of a quasidemocratic but military-dominated ape society emerges, one that puts on airs of enlightenment but still allows slavery -- of humans. Technologically, it is about on a par with the Roman Empire, with guns, much less electricity, still unknown. 

Muddled, unexciting action sees Leo, the curvaceous Daena (Estella Warren) and a few others covertly freed by quirky senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), whose bleeding-heart interest in society's victims gives new meaning to the term ``human rights activist.'' Enraged by such a betrayal, apedom's ever-agitated military leader, Thade (Tim Roth), convinces Ari's venerable father (David Warner) to declare martial law, allowing him to embark on a massive search-and-destroy mission against Leo and his little group. 

Aside from mild crushes that both Ari and Daena develop on the oblivious Leo, character development is ignored during the humans' long trek toward the distant location where a signal on Leo's sensor is guiding them. Nor is suspense ever a factor. The major compensation, then, is represented by the stunning locations through which they pass, notably the Lake Powell area, where much of the first ``Apes'' was lensed, and the incredible Trona Pinnacles in California's high desert. 

Climactic battle, in which the ill-prepared humans, led by unwilling savior Leo, seem no match for the powerful apes, is interrupted by a cute but hardly surprising ``celestial'' visitor. Despite the pleas of the two would-be girlfriends, Leo decides to return to Earth. It hardly seems worth it, however; without giving it away, the ending (chosen from among a reported seven or eight possible ones) involves, as did that of the original, a famous U.S. landmark. Unlike the earlier one, however, this one is really, really bad. 

When not strictly utilitarian, dialogue by scripters William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal is often sophomorically on-the-nose in its human-ape role reversals. ``Extremism in defense of apes is no vice,'' rants the crazed Thade, while Ari laments, ``It's disgusting the way we treat humans.'' Comic-relief lines given to Paul Giamatti's slave trader are similarly lame. 

Overall, thesps are given little to work with, although Bonham Carter is able to give her do-gooder role some shadings. While physically exuberant, Roth's Thade can't compare to the thesp's memorable villain in ``Rob Roy.'' Looking like she's received no direction at all, Warren does little but stride around in her low-cut jungle garb and leg-strap sandals like a modern edition of Anita Ekberg. 

In someone's idea of a joke, original space traveler Heston enacts an uncredited deathbed scene as Thade's father in which he reveals to his son that apes ``evolved'' from humans and bequeaths to him an ``Ancient'' weapon -- a gun. 

The usual seamlessness of Burton's world is not matched here due to some jarring transitions between studio artifice and location reality. Rick Baker's ape makeup creations are wonderfully varied -- all manner of simians are present and accounted for -- and represent a definite leap beyond what was possible 33 years ago. 

Cameraman Philippe Rousselot copes as best he can with the inconsistent visual backdrops, Colleen Atwood's costume designs are sometimes striking but don't always escape cliche, while Danny Elfman's score begins promisingly with unusual percussion motifs but gradually drifts toward the more conventional. 

Captain Leo Davidson .. Mark Wahlberg 
Thade ................. Tim Roth 
Ari ................... Helena Bonham Carter 
Attar ................. Michael Clarke Duncan 
Limbo ................. Paul Giamatti 
Daena ................. Estella Warren 
Krull ................. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa 
Sandar ................ David Warner 
Karubi ................ Kris Kristofferson 
Tival ................. Erick Avari 
Birn .................. Luke Eberl 
Gunnar ................ Evan Dexer Parke 
Senator Nado .......... Glenn Shadix 
Nova .................. Lisa Marie 

A 20th Century Fox release of a Zanuck Co. production. Produced by Richard D. Zanuck. Executive producer, Ralph Winter. 

Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay, William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, based on a novel by Pierre Boulle. Camera (Deluxe color, Panavision widescreen), Philippe Rousselot; editor, Chris Lebenzon; music, Danny Elfman; production designer, Rick Heinrichs; supervising art director, John Dexter; art directors, Sean Haworth, Philip Toolin; lead set designer, James R. Bayliss; set designers, Luke Freeborn, Joshua Lusby, Richard Reynolds, Steven Schwartz, Gerald Sullivan, Jason R. Weil, Donald B. Woodruff; set decorator, Rosemary Brandenburg; costume designer, Colleen Atwood; sound (Dolby/DTS), Petur Hliddal; supervising sound editor, John A. Larsen; special makeup effects designer and creator, Rick Baker; special makeup effects, Cinovation Studios/Rick Baker Crew; visual effects supervisor, Bill George; special visual effects, Industrial Light & Magic; associate producer/assistant director, Katterli Frauenfelder; stunt coordinator, Charles Croughwell; second unit director, Andy Armstrong; second unit camera, Jonathan Taylor; casting, Denise Chapman. Reviewed at the Fenway Cinemas, Boston, July 24, 2001. (In Locarno Film Festival -- noncompeting.) 

In interviews, Tim Burton has been adamant about labeling his new version of ''Planet of the Apes'' a reimagining, not a remake. But reimagined is precisely what the new film is not. It updates the trappings of the 1968 film based on Pierre Boulle's novel about an astronaut who crash-lands on a planet where apes rule humans, but it's not as entertaining. Both films push off radically from Boulle's novel, although Burton's ending comes a lot closer than the 1968 film did. But it simply doesn't have the wit and panache the first movie had. The original film was campy but resonant with social themes in a time of civil rights struggle. This new version is little more than a screenful of heavy-metal political correctness. 

In fact, it seems less like a reimagining of ''Planet of the Apes'' than a crafts-project version of ''Spartacus.'' Dark, heavy, and underenergized, it pretty much strands Mark Wahlberg - figuratively as well as literally - in his hero role as an astronaut who finds himself leading a slave revolt against brutal simians decked out like Kiss wannabes.

This will not be remembered as the finest hour for Burton's neo-Goth sensibilities. The best thing about ''Batman'' was the way he made the dark, looming Metropolis the star of that film. It was an inspired projection of the fear and dread Americans felt about their cities in the 1980s. It's this kind of imaginative heft that the new film lacks.

Boulle's novel, although frequently referred to as a classic, is a startlingly mediocre piece of writing, with its ham-handed ironies about civilizations and bestiality, barely able to sustain its single inspired idea - a world in which men become the lower order of primates, and apes are, so to speak, top dog. In place of Boulle's smug earnestness, though, Burton gives us little more than a warmed-over sword-and-sandal epic, without the nimbleness of the original film - or its anti-racist subtext. What this new take also lacks, despite a screenful of handsomely crafted stygian visuals and elaborate makeup, is strangeness.

For a film that begins in space, with Wahlberg's ship in trouble, and spreads out over jungle and lava-covered landscapes, this new ''Planet of the Apes'' is strangely earthbound and pedestrian. Part of the problem is the flatfooted dialogue, which mistakenly has characters voice pieties instead of letting the message - about the oppression of the weak by the strong - speak for itself. The new film equates the humans in their loincloths much too overtly to African-American slaves. The more lightweight 1968 version limned the antiracist theme more deftly.

Helena Bonham Carter's simpatico chimpanzee has been changed from a scientist to a human-rights activist of privileged background. She sounds like a 19th-century abolitionist, insisting, against lively simian opposition, that humans have souls. Tim Roth's militaristic heavy complains of a human-rights faction nipping at his heels. And just as ''Spartacus'' had a slave dealer played by Peter Ustinov, this film has one played by Paul Giamatti, who, when he's in trouble, turns Rodney King's famous line upside down and says self-servingly, ''Why can't we all just get along?''

Nor is space-suited Wahlberg spared. At the end, when it's time for the showdown, he says to the beleaguered humans, ''All right, listen up, everyone - I've got an idea.'' By then, it hardly matters. The film has dissolved into self-parody, helped along by the fact that Wahlberg's character is only a standard action hero and fatally nice. Charlton Heston's astronaut, in the original film, was arrogant; you didn't mind seeing him get his comeuppance. (Heston has a cameo in the new film, as the heavy's aged father.)

Just as Kim Hunter's scientist stole the original, Bonham Carter, given almost nothing to play against, walks away with those scenes that aren't stolen by a bona fide chimp. In what amounts to the romantic lead, she gets most of the job done with her big brown eyes, which are filled with caring. One can only sympathize with Estella Warren, done up as a cross between a beach bunny and Sheena of the Jungle, only marginally less sexist in conception than Boulle's take on the human mate intended for the astronaut. The production design and art direction, drawing resourcefully on Asian sources, are eye-catching. But this new ''Planet of the Apes'' won't enjoy the long life and popularity of the first film. It's too psychically flat and dramatically inert. Instead of reinvigorating a Hollywood classic, Burton only takes it to camp.

Dorchester street punk-turned-box office biggie Mark Wahlberg returned last night to the only place on the Planet where he says he feels comfortable monkeying around - Boston!

``What's not to love,'' said the ``Planet of the Apes'' star who hosted 1,200 of his nearest and not-so-dearest to a sneak preview of the flick at the new Loews Boston Common Theatre. ``Look at the reception I get here.''

The screening - in four theaters in the movie monolith - Mark-ed the founding of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation which will benefit kiddie organizations like the Boston-area Boys and Girls Clubs and the gym-building fund at St. Edward's Church in Brockton.

``These people were there for me through thick and thin,'' Wahlberg, surrounded by popcorn-popping Dorchester Boys and Girls Clubbers, told the Track. ``It took me awhile to get there because I was fascinated by the car on the corner. But when I finally got there, they were there for me. They are the real heroes.''

Joining the Hollywood hottie at his much-heralded homecoming were Wahlbergs big and small, including Mark's big brother, actor and former New Kid on the Block Donnie Wahlberg, who flew in from the Left Coast to catch the cinema action.

``Now, I'm a fan of the old `Planet of the Apes,' '' said Donnie, who will soon be seen in HBO's much-ballyhooed ``Band of Brothers'' mini-series. ``So I'm a bit angry they remade it. But if my brother's doing it, I'm supporting it. Frankly, I'd rather be one of the apes than the guy. Who wants to be the guy?''

Which is the big difference between Donnie and Mark, he said.

``I've been in the limelight before, so I'd rather not play the big part,'' said Donnie, who had son Xavier, 7, slurping pink lemonade at his side. ``Mark would have rather have played the Bruce Willis role in the `Sixth Sense' than what I played.''

But we're told we shouldn't rule out a Wahlberg cinematic collaboration.

``Eventually we will,'' said the former rapper with a rap sheet. ``But if we do, I'd like to be behind the camera. Because I don't want to be exploited.''

Said Donnie: ``We haven't done it up until now because we're insecure Boston kids who are afraid that if we did it, people would perceive it as a gimmick.

``It's like if Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had another one or two hits together, it's gimmicky; a textbook case on what not to do.''

After the screening, the throng - at least those of legal drinking age - headed across the common to Pravda 116 to party with ex-New Kid Joey McIntyre, some Red Sox (slugger Manny Ramirez was expected), a couple of corporate types like Charlie Baker of Harvard Community Health Plan and, of course, the biggest turn-out of Wahlbergs on the Planet!

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- These monkeys mean business.

Fox's "Planet of the Apes," which opens in wide release today, has the potential to become a monster hit. Audiences made fickle by the weekly parade of big-budget summertime fare see the precocious primates in "Apes" as kings of the theatrical jungle. Make no mistake, "Apes' " prerelease profile is the equal of that of Universal's "Jurassic Park III," which logged a Friday-Sunday take of more than $50 million during the past weekend.

Tim Burton directed the "Apes" remake that returns to the original story line in Pierre Boulle's classic novel about a futuristic planet governed by warlike talking simians. Mark Wahlberg plays an American astronaut who crash-lands on the planet and joins with insurgent local Helena Bonham Carter to topple the beast-over-man power structure. Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan and Kris Kristofferson co-star.

The feature's sci-fi setting and special effects-driven action sequences are a powerful theatrical concoction that will be leveraged during the weekend by several marketplace-related advantages. Most obvious is the clear competitive landscape; while several veteran movies remain popular enough to present a serious challenge, no new film has the temerity to go toe-to-toe with "Apes."

That it is rated PG-13 is another positive. Teenagers do not like to go to movies with their parents, so removing obstacles to attendance by this key demographic is an important plus, particularly with schools in summer recess.

Finally, modern-day moviegoers are mostly unaware of the series of "Apes" films made generations ago, leaving this latest installment to stand on its own two hairy feet without a sense of deja vu. Fox has positioned the picture as an original, and few filmgoers are the wiser given that the original in the series of five previous "Apes" dates to 1968.

As for impact on the remainder of the marketplace, "Jurassic III," which earned $81.3 million during its first five days, is sitting directly in "Apes' " cross hairs. Both films will play predominately to young males, creating a conflict to be resolved mostly in "Apes' " favor. Sony's "America's Sweethearts," which debuted last weekend to $30.2 million, is drawing mainly from the female sector, whose younger component in particular is not terribly interested in "Apes."

Put them together, and the weekend tally for all films in release easily should exceed last year's comparable $131.8 million.

USA Films' "Wet Hot American Summer" and Strand's "The Monkey's Mask" open today in New York only. "Summer" is a comedy directed by David Wain from a script by his long-time comedy club collaborator Michael Showalter. Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce star as camp counselors falling in love while dealing with final-day disasters.

Samantha Lang directed Kelly McGillis, Abbie Cornish and Susie Porter in "Mask," a drama based on Dorothy Porter's novel about murder on the poetry-reading circuit.

IDP's "Greenfingers" debuts today in limited release. The story of friendship between horticulturally inclined prison inmates Clive Owen and David Kelly was written and directed by Joel Hershman.

Sony Pictures Classics' "Jackpot" bows today in New York and Los Angeles. Aspiring singer Jon Gries and his road manager, Garrett Morris, travel to Nevada in search of stardom in the comedy directed by Michael Polish, who helmed the related 1999 project "Twin Falls Idaho."

First Look's "Bread and Tulips" and Tidepoint's "Tokyo Eyes" play exclusively in New York. Silvio Soldini directed "Tulips," a romantic comedy about a woman (Licia Maglietta) discovering the joys of living on the lam in Venice, Italy. "Tokyo Eyes" is a police thriller directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin.

Menemsha's "101 Reykjavik," a comedy from Iceland, opened Wednesday in New York.

NEW YORK, Jul 26, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- British actress Helena Bonham Carter says that while preparing for her role as a pretty primate in Tim Burton's new sci-fi flick "Planet of the Apes," she was so well-educated in the ways of simians that she now feels qualified to write a book called "Zen and Finding Your Inner Ape." 

Best-known for her powerful performances in period dramas like "Howard's End" and "Lady Jane," the 35-year-old actress, along with co-stars Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile," "Armageddon") and Tim Roth ("Pulp Fiction," "Rob Roy") spent several months in "Ape School," learning to walk and act like monkeys. 

"I was really quite good at it," Carter told reporters recently while promoting the futuristic tale about a planet where highly evolved apes rule and humans are slaves. 

The film is not a re-make of, or sequel to the 1968 classic that starred Charleton Heston. It is a re-telling of the story. 

"Eventually, I was flunked because I have Attention Deficit Disorder, I was told. I thought my natural inability to concentrate would help me play a chimpanzee, but, no, I was told I had to focus and get in touch with my inner ape," she quipped. 

Nearly unrecognizable under layers of latex, makeup and fur, the dark-haired beauty explained that "Ape School" helped her to get into character as it taught her not only how to move like an ape, but also how to investigate with monkey-like curiosity -- sniffing and tasting and picking at everything that comes its way. 

One drawback to her effective disguise was that she sometimes felt more chimpanzee than chippie after several hours a day in the makeup chair, she revealed. 

"I thought I looked like a stuffed toy," Carter recalled. "That I was cutesy, but they said there was a definite sexiness, apparently, which I was oblivious to because I felt like the least sexual thing because of the facial hair and the breast-flattening leotard, and I had these humongous ape feet. What's so good about Mark Wahlberg is he is an incorrigible flirt and I was so thankful for that because ... my self-esteem could have plummeted. 

"Although it didn't lead anywhere, it was nice to feel that I was still ultimately attractive." 

Any fans hoping to see an on-screen mating between Carter's passionate human rights activist and Wahlberg's heroic human astronaut are out of luck, though. 

Although Carter admitted there is a strong attraction between their characters, she insisted rumors that Burton ("Sleepy Hollow," "Batman") cut a steamy inter-species sex scene out of the final version of the movie is completely false. 

"I would have been up for it, absolutely, but I don't think this movie is a manifesto of bestiality," she exclaimed. 

"There was a sweet, poetic sort of connection (between our characters) that was kind of unrealized and unfulfilled and (the sex scene) never was there. There were tons of rumors on the Internet that we had this big scene. But that was just wishful thinking. This is ultimately a family film." 

Carter might not know where those nasty rumors about monkey love got started, but Wahlberg ("The Perfect Storm," "Boogie Nights") certainly does. 

"What happened was me and Tim (Burton) talked about this relationship early on before I saw the script. I had seen it on paper and there was a potential for it to go further. And I just started talking in interviews, 'Yeah, it's hard-core. We're just bleeping away.' I was messing around and people started to believe it," confessed the 30-year-old rapper, formerly known as Marky Mark. 

"So next we're at the press junket and people started asking, 'So why did you cut out the scene?' And Tim is saying, 'What are you talking about?' (and they say) 'Mark said ....' (and Burton replied) 'Well, if they shot it, I wasn't there that day and I don't know what the hell he's talking about.'" 

For Wahlberg, a Dorchester, Mass. native who quit the pop music band New Kids on the Block, then spent time in jail for assault before becoming an underwear model for Calvin Klein, working with a unique filmmaker like Burton was a dream come true. 

"You've seen all his work, so you probably know the talent he has, but you don't know the personality. It's just amazing. Very few people have had a profound effect on my life and Tim is certainly one of them," he said. 

"I got beat up everyday, but I just couldn't wait to get to the set every day to be around him." 

Wahlberg said he signed onto the project almost immediately, even before Burton had a script. 

"And this is without knowing what kind of person he was. That was just based on my being a fan and my desire to work with him. My falling in love with him just happened over the course of making the movie. I don't even know if he likes me and I don't care," he said. 

Wahlberg added, "The only thing I was worried about was the possibility of having to wear a loincloth. Fortunately, that wasn't necessary." 

The actor went on to say that he enjoyed teasing the actors who played apes by coming home from parties at about the same time most of them were getting up for the day and heading into the makeup chair. 

"You have a bunch of frustrated guys in gorilla suits seeing me coming out of makeup in about five minutes, pretty cush part, so they vented. And they all got a crack at me," he added. 

Asked if he did a lot of his own stunts in the action flick, Wahlberg replied: "Tim (Burton) really likes to have the actors in there. A lot of actors say: 'I do my own stunts, I'm really cool,' though, I'm not that guy. I personally found a stunt guy that looks exactly like me, was willing to do anything, actually likes to take a beating, so I'd rather have him in there. But for the most part, Tim wanted us to be there, so I had no other choice." 

Wahlberg admitted that he even suffered panic attacks the first few days he was on the set. 

"It was horrifying," he exclaimed. "I had this kid next to me with this tribal markings all over his face. He looked like something out of the original 'Star Wars,' and this hairy foot, it must have been this big (Wahlberg extends his arms), with bushels of hair coming out of it. And I looked up at this guy in a gorilla outfit and thought, 'This is not the place for me. Just put me in the room with a couple of people, even a boat, (George Clooney, the fisherman from "The Perfect Storm") is still out there somewhere, but Tim was the reassurance I needed, it worked out." 

The actor said another scary aspect of filming was working beside real-life chimps. 

"They can be really nasty," he declared. "I spent a couple of weeks with them before we started shooting and they got really close to me. They were very protective of me. Then they met Helena and she smelled a little better than I did, and they turned on me. They attacked me one day. They were small, about 4 or 5 years old. They're a little easier to handle, but they're still strong." 

Then, ever the tough guy, he added: "I think I could handle them." 

Wahlberg can next be seen in the mystery/thriller "The Truth About Charlie," directed by Jonathan Demme, while Carter will star opposite Steve Martin in "Novocaine" and Guy Pearce in the independent film "'Till Human Voices Wake Us." 

LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- It'll be a battle between two revenge-minded lower species -- and two studios -- for box office dollars at movie houses everywhere over the weekend as two high-profile films hit theaters.

News Corp.'s (NWS: news, chart, profile) Twentieth Century Fox film unit is coming out Friday with "Planet of the Apes," a remake of the 1968 classic that spawned four sequels. There are high expectations for the film, which has an estimated $100 million budget.

"Apes" is competing with another humans-get-their-just-deserts picture, Vivendi Universal's (V: news, chart, profile) "Jurassic Park 3," which has been in theaters a week and half. The $93 million picture is closing in on $100 million in sales already. And Sony Corp.'s (SNE: news, chart, profile) "America's Sweethearts" is capturing a big chunk of business.

"The question is how much can the market expand to take in another potential blockbuster," said Bruce Snyder, Fox's president of domestic distribution. "Hopefully, I can get some of those people before they go back for a second view (of 'Jurassic')."

If online ticket sales are any indication, the buzz surrounding "Apes" appears to be real. Advance sales online are equal to what "Jurassic" had last week, said John Singh, spokesman for online ticket seller Fandango Inc. "Apes" is accounting for 70 percent of all advance sales.

And while online ticket demand drops off sharply after a film opens, "Jurassic" remains strong, holding much of the remaining 30 percent, Singh said. "Jurassic" made $50 million last weekend.

"I think what we're seeing is the marketplace is expanding to the point where we're getting the kind of momentum that we thought we would at the beginning of the summer," Singh said.

Fox has hit a dry spell of late. Since "Cast Away" made $233 million in the U.S., many of its releases have had lackluster business at best. The worst flop has been "Monkeybone," a $75 million film that brought back only $5 million in the U.S. 

Fox built a little momentum with "Dr. Dolittle 2," which is nearing $100 million. But "Apes," starring Mark Wahlberg, is a big gamble for Fox. It rarely cracks the $100 million mark on budgets and when it does, it has met with mixed results.

Fox shared in the $200 million budget for "Titanic," the top-grossing movie of all time, with Viacom Inc.'s (VIA: news, chart, profile) (VIA.B: news, chart, profile) Paramount Pictures unit. It also spent $110 million on 1997's "Speed 2: Cruise Control," which failed in U.S. theaters but managed to rake in $100 million overseas.

Fox is planning a wide, rapid international distribution for the film after it opens in the U.S. Friday. Nearly the entire globe will be covered by the end of August and all countries will get the film by the end of September.

Snyder acknowledged that the film, like its series of predecessors, has the potential to be a franchise movie, which is why Fox was willing to spend $100 million on it. This film was directed by Tim Burton, known for "Batman" and "Ed Wood," and co-written by "Cast Away's" William Broyles.

A bit of controversy surrounding this version, which went back for reshooting of some scenes just last month. Whether that's a sign of trouble for the film remains to be seen.

The original "Planet of the Apes," which starred Charlton Heston, was one of the great film franchises of all time. Four sequels appeared on screens within five years after the original. 

The cost for all five "Apes" films combined was roughly $15 million. Unlike today, those sequels got cheaper to produce than the original.

As Snyder points out, times have changed. The first "Planet of the Apes" cost $5.8 million and made roughly $32 million over its life, considered a blockbuster in its day.

"If we did that this weekend, I'd be disappointed," Snyder said.

MARK WAHLBERG chats it up with our JULIE MORAN -- just as TIM BURTON's 'Planet of the Apes' gets ready to open this weekend! Check out what this hot human has to say about loincloths, what it's like to be attacked by live chimps and his single status. 

JULIE MORAN: Rumor has it that the first time you walked onto the set and saw all the apes, that you had a little mini-heart attack.

MARK WAHLBERG: Yes, it was a panic attack. It wasn't when I walked on set, we were actually about to do the first take of the first shot, and TIM (BURTON) for some reason wanted us all to duck down behind this rock and look down. It was a crane shot, and as we appear, the crane starts to rise, and I looked to my right and there was a big hairy foot hanging out of a sandal. And I looked up and there was this guy in a gorilla outfit, and I was just like, 'You know what, I really made a mistake.' And I looked next to me, and the small boy standing there looks like something out of 'Star Wars' with his sandals and the weird outfit, and I just started to panic. And I'm looking around for Tim, and I saw him behind the monitor, and he's got this huge grin on his face and he's so excited, and enthusiastic, and I realized, well, that's the reassurance I was looking for. This is the guy I came for, I'm going to be okay. Let's get over the initial shock and get on with it.

JULIE: It took you like two minutes to decide to do this movie, right?

MARK: Yeah. Yeah. And then I realized after, well, I promised that I would do anything he asked me to do. And I hadn't I talked about which character he was interested in for me, or I hadn't talked about, if it was the astronaut role, what would he be wearing, because these were two things that I was very concerned with. I don't like being in a makeup chair for too long, so playing an ape would have been tough for me. And, CHARLTON HESTON wore a loincloth. 

JULIE: Right, Charlton wore the loincloth, but you did not want to wear the loincloth, right?

MARK: I didn't, but I had already promised that I would do anything, so it was really up to Tim. And so, it was a long six weeks, a lot of sleepless nights before I actually got to go to a fitting.

JULIE: So, you didn't know. You thought...

MARK: No, I never mentioned it, because I had promised to do anything and ... so, (when) I walked into the dressing room, a space suit was hanging there, and I was like, "oh." I looked behind it, there was nothing, I looked inside ... I was like, this could be okay. I went outside, we tried it, she measured me, she said, okay, that's it.

JULIE: How relieved were you?

MARK: I walked inside...well, I still didn't say anything, because you never know (chuckle) so I walked back in the room, took off the suit, and me and Tim went for a walk to discuss something else, and I said, you know Tim, I'm really happy. He's like, why, what's up? I was like, well, I thought you were going to make me wear a loincloth. He was like, what? I don't want to see you in a loincloth. (laugh)

JULIE: Well, he's the only one.

MARK: Well, thank God.

JULIE: Now, there were two chimps, tell me the story, that one day they really didn't like you. Two real chimps.

MARK: Well, anytime I tried to give HELENA (BONHAM CARTER) a hug, they attacked me. And I had spent a lot of time with them, because I had to work very closely with them. And, they really want you to spend time with them so they get familiar with you, because they are very sporadic, and at anytime they can turn on you. They're very playful and loving, but at the same time, they're wild animals. So, we got so close, and I was their best friend, and they wouldn't let me go anywhere without holding onto my leg. Next thing you know, they met Helena, smelled her, and that was it. I came up to give her a hug, both jumped on me at the same time and started to pounce on me.

JULIE: Really? Like pounce on you?

MARK: Yeah, just beating me. Wailing away.

JULIE: Were you scared to death?

MARK: Um, no because they are pretty small, but still, they're strong. I had to get out of there until the trainers straightened that out.

JULIE: Did it ever happen again?

MARK: Um, no. There were times where they actually became very protective of me and were attacking TIM ROTH and his double.

JULIE: Well that's good.

MARK: Definitely. I needed some help, because Tim was beating the hell out of me the whole movie.

JULIE: How do you think the audience is going to respond to your, not romance with Helena, but she's a chimp, you're you, and it's a beautiful thing...

MARK: Yeah, I think it's fascinating. She's got all the qualities that I want in a woman and I'm looking for in a wife.

JULIE: Really?

MARK: Yeah, and she's adorable. RICK BAKER did an amazing job. And she, just brought so much life to the character and so much personality. I mean, I think guys are going be falling in love with her.

JULIE: You might be right.

MARK: KRIS KRISTOFFERSON is in love with her. She's amazing in the part.

JULIE: I know all the women in America, are going to want me to ask this question. Are you single or attached right now?

MARK: I am single.

JULIE: Single.

MARK: Very single. Yes.

JULIE: Okay. Well, I think they'll like that answer.

MARK: Well, I'm glad they do.

JULIE: One last question. Do you want to do a sequel? Would you like to do a sequel?

MARK: If Tim would do a sequel, I'm in. We've talked about it. I mean, I would do anything the guy wanted to do.

Looks like tonight's ``Planet Of The Apes'' premiere is going to be a family affair for the Wahlbergs.

Head Monkey Man Mark Wahlberg is throwing the party at the new Loews Boston Common Theatre, a benefit for his new Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation. And his bro, ``Sixth Sense'' actor and former New Kid On The Block Donnie Wahlberg, flew home from La-La to party with Mark.

Yesterday, Donnie and his 7-year-old son, Xavier, had breakfast in the Savin Hill 'hood at McKenna's Café, after which Donnie took his boy to the nearby Savin Hill Barber Shop for a boy's regular. Hey, no Hollywood hairdo for this kid!

Meanwhile, the Brockton Enterprise reports that the first beneficiary of Mark's new foundation will be the gym at St. Edward's Church in that city.

Mark is quite close to St. Ed's pastor James Flavin, who set the former thug on the straight-and-narrow back in Wahlberg's bad old Dorchester days.

Wahlberg will personally write a whopping six-figure check for the new gym, Flavin said, and Mark's taking 30 parish kids to tonight's premiere. Now that's a Funky Bunch!

After some last minute complications, Tim Burton’s Planet of The Apes is finally finished and despite the gruelling physical requirements of the film, star Mark Wahlberg is keen to come back for round 2. 

Playing the voice of resistance who forces the oppressed human slaves to rise up against their primate captors, Wahlberg is more than happy to consider a sequel, but only if director Tim Burton signs on as well. “If Tim wants to, I'd love to, but it really depends on him,” Wahlberg told reporters.

In fact, so enamoured with the director was Wahlberg that he maintains working with him was the high point of Apes: "The coolest thing about the experience was meeting Tim the person, getting to know a fantastic human being. It was a really tough shoot for me physically--I was getting beaten up for most of the movie-- I still rushed to work every day just to hang out with Tim. I never had so much fun, felt so comfortable on a set or around somebody. It was really, really special."

Not everyone on set was quite so accommodating however, the chimps kept on set were notoriously temperamental, taken to sudden temper tantrums and periodically attacking their human co-stars. More worrying was Wahlberg’s experiences with pseudo-apes Tim Roth and Michael Clarke Duncan who, unnervingly, insisted on maintaining their despotic demeanour even when the camera stopped rolling. Wahlberg admits that sometimes it was easy to forget that there were human beings under the ape-like costumes: "I did [forget] with Tim and Michael, especially because they became extremely violent, like the [real] chimps I was working with in preparing for the movie. They were relentless, they were always in character, which was fantastic for me, because I need something to cling to, to believe myself, so that way I can convey that to the audience. Yeah, there were a lot of times. Those guys in particular."

BROCKTON -- Actor Mark Wahlberg has come a long way from his days of hanging out on the streets of Boston, carousing with friends and having run-ins with the law. 

Now he wants to help other inner-city children realize their dreams and ambitions. 

Wahlberg will be in Brockton today to announce the formation of the Mark Wahlberg Foundation. It will raise and distribute funds to youth service programs, including The Boys and Girls Clubs of America. 

Wahlberg is known to have had a rough-and-tumble youth growing up in family of nine children. But he credits his involvement in the Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester with helping him achieve his goals. 

The first beneficiary of the foundation will be St. Edwards Church in Brockton. The Reverend James Flavin was Wahlberg's pastor when he was a child. 

Mark Wahlberg is in town for the Boston premiere of the new film "Planet of the Apes." 

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sure, going ape sounds sane now.

Greenlighting an updated version of ``Planet of the Apes'' is an easy call for a studio chief today, based on the success of its ancestor.

In 1967, though, a movie mogul could fear it would make a monkey out of him.

Richard D. Zanuck, the then youthful head of production at 20th Century Fox, received a request from publicist Arthur P. Jacobs for an appointment. Zanuck agreed, figuring Jacobs wanted to discuss one of his many big-name clients.

Zanuck discovered Jacobs harbored larger ambitions than running the most prestigious publicity firm in Hollywood at that time.

``To my surprise, Arthur said he had been trying to produce a picture at Warner Bros., and the studio had put it in `turnaround' (rejected it),'' the 66-year-old Zanuck recalled recently in a telephone interview from a French Riviera vacation.

``So I asked Arthur what the bottom line of the picture was. He said, 'It's a world in which the apes are the rulers, and the humans are not.' It sounded preposterous to me, but I said I would read it. Rod Serling had written the script, and I felt that anything he wrote would be interesting.''

Even with a Serling script based on the Pierre Boulle novel and Blake Edwards slated to be the director, Warner Bros. had balked at the $10 million budget - peanuts today but considered a huge investment in the 1960s when the average film cost $2.5 million.

Zanuck read the script over the weekend and on Monday told Jacobs:

``I think there is something incredibly fascinating with this material. But I don't know how we're going to pull it off. The audience might just laugh at it; after the first 30 seconds we could be dead in the water. I want to make a test. I want to see if we can do the makeup properly or if it is going to look ridiculous and laughable.''

The ape makeup was devised by John Chambers, who won an honorary Academy Award specifically for his efforts on the film (there was no Oscar category for makeup in those days). Edward G. Robinson was persuaded to put on the costume for the test. Zanuck showed the test to the Fox board and was given a thumbs-up.

Charlton Heston took the role of the astronaut who lands on the ape-ruled planet, and Franklin J. Schaffner, who went on to win an Oscar for directing 1970's ``Patton,'' took Edwards' place.

The aging Robinson found it too difficult to breathe in the makeup, and his place was taken by Shakespearian actor Maurice Evans. The rest of the cast included Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison.

The formerly blacklisted Michael Wilson - who posthumously got credit for the ``Lawrence of Arabia'' screenplay and an Oscar for writing ``The Bridge on the River Kwai'' - was credited as co-writer with Serling.

``Planet of the Apes'' provided a huge, much-needed hit for 20th Century Fox, still reeling from the nearly bankrupting $40 million it spent on ``Cleopatra'' five years before.

It attracted filmgoers not accustomed to science fiction films, and the reviews were generally glowing. Variety called it ``an amazing film ... The suspense and suspension of disbelief engendered is one of the film's biggest assets.''

Four sequels in four years followed, and then live-action and animated TV series.

And now, ``Planet of the Apes'' redux.

Fox's new $100 million version reflects the quirky vision of director Tim Burton and stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter.

The producer? Zanuck.

``I feel like I've been in my own time warp, my own science fiction world,'' Zanuck said. ``Having 34 years ago initiated this, I find myself producing a picture that is not a remake but a whole new picture using the same concept.''

Having played a human in two earlier ``Apes'' films, Heston this time wore the monkey suit, and came to realize what his fellow actors endured.

``It took about 21/2 hours to put on, and a little more than that to take off,'' he said. ``You have to be careful when it's on, because if something goes wrong, it can't be repaired.''

Heston whimsically described his unbilled role in the new ``Planet of the Apes'': ``I am of course an alpha ape. What do I play in 'Cats and Dogs'? The alpha dog, of course. Those are the parts I play: kings, cardinals and so forth.''

He also offered this bit of trivia from the initial ``Planet of the Apes'': ``When it came to lunch, each species sat together. The humans sat at one table, the apes at a separate table, and the gorillas at yet another table. You might call it species segregation.''

Part of the film was shot in the midsummer Arizona desert. Heston recalled in his 1995 autobiography ``In the Arena'':

``It was a rough summer for me. Barefoot and naked in most of the scenes, I was ridden down by gorillas, whipped, chained, gagged, stoned (even rubber rocks hurt), fire-hosed and finally trapped in a net and jerked upside down.'' (A stunt man doubled in the latter scene.)

Hunter, who appeared as an ape in the first three films, remembered in a 1995 interview: ``It was pretty claustrophobic, and painful to a certain extent. The only thing of me that came through were my eyeballs.''

Many critics and historians have hailed ``Planet of the Apes'' as a rare achievement - even influential on the genre.

But science fiction author-screenwriter Harlan Ellison (73 sci-fi books, episodes of TV's ``Star Trek'' and the ``Twilight Zone'') said the sequels just amounted to Hollywood commerce.

``The other four were just moneymaking ventures,'' he said in an interview. ``We live in a time where originality has gone by the boards. It's safer for people at the studios with minimal talent to remake that which was done properly the first time.

``I liked the first movie when I first saw it. ... It's mostly monkeyshines. But well done and interesting and amusing. It's a parable about reversing man and beast.''

Sci-fi guru Ray Bradbury (``The Martian Chronicles,'' ``Fahrenheit 451'') downplayed any influence ``Planet of the Apes'' may have had on the sci-fi genre, noting several other films he felt made larger contributions.

``I think films like `2001' really began to open things out,'' Bradbury told The Associated Press. '``Close Encounters of the Third Kind' I think is the most important film in the field, because it had a metaphor at its heart, which is religion. 'Star Wars' really opened it all out. It was 'The Wizard of Oz' of outer space.''

In contrast, Bradbury used words like ``silly'' and ``childish'' when discussing the ``Planet of the Apes'' franchise.

``I know it's popular, but it's too childish. Not my cup of tea,'' he said. ``What always struck me as silly about it was you couldn't tell one actor from another.''