| Title | : | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 178329227X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781783292271 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2014 |
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization Reviews
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when monkeys be like humans always I have been thinking monkeys behavior close of humans or human act like animal and this book or a movie prove this
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A few disclosures first:
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” was a trans-formative cinematic experience for me. I was blown away by it in every aspect. I found it deeply affecting and it will end somewhere among my top four or five films of all time. I also read a lot of movie novelizations and really enjoy them. Take a look at my bookshelf and you will see I generally give them favorable reviews. Plus, I have written both novels and screenplays so I understand the straight jacket sometimes imposed on the author, who often is working from a very early draft of the screenplay and given little creative space to truly “novelize”.
Given my affection for the film and my understanding of the process, this book should have been a five star layup for someone like me. And the source material is so strong here, turning this into an outstanding novel should not be that hard.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a ton of great stuff in this book. The major set pieces are well done. There is some really cool back story information sprinkled in. The author does a good job with the big three (Caesar, Malcolm, and Koba) for the most part. So why three stars instead of four of five?
There is way too much Carver here. He gets the viewpoint narrative for large chunks of several chapters. While Carter is a very realistic character, he is not interesting. He hates because he is stupid and ignorant and a sheep who probably listened to some loudmouth fear-mongering talk show host who screamed “the apes did this to you. It’s all their fault.” The thing is, we don’t even get that. Just spent wasted narrative time in his empty head that would have been better served in one of the big three, or an interesting secondary character like Maurice, Ellie, or Alexander.
While the book does a good job with Koba’s viewpoint most of the time, we never feel his pain, the damage awoken inside him by the appearance of the humans. I wanted more. Plus, there is a major continuity error here, something that directly contradicts Koba’s backstory as told in the excellent prequel novel “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm” by Greg Keyes. And it is a huge detail that goes a long way toward making Koba the unstable, rabid, vengeful persona he becomes in “Dawn”. Now granted, the author was probably relying on a continuity “expert” at the studio. But this error could have been easily avoided with a simple phone call, email, or by reading the prequel (if it was finished).
The ending is different here and lacks all of the powerful, bittersweet emotion that made the final scene in “Dawn” so unforgettable. Yeah, I know the author was working from an early version of the script, etc. Sorry, but I don’t buy that as an excuse. The movie was in the can months ago. There was plenty of time for an editor to get the ending right in the book before the release date. The ending, as it reads here is just….wrong. The Malcolm and Caesar I saw in the movie, are nowhere to be found here. “Dawn” is first and foremost a story about friendship. I wanted to feel it in this book the way I did in the movie, but it wasn’t quite there.
Bottom line: This book lacks the emotional firepower of the movie and is not as good as the prequel “Firestorm”. But still, the source material is so strong and there is enough great stuff in here to make this a must own/read for hardcore “Planet of the Apes” fans or anyone who enjoyed the movie.
(Edit 2015 update)
As Baby's father said to Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing", "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong."
I just reread this book and admit I was way too hard on it the first time. Partly because I was on a huge emotional high from the movie and had unrealistic expectation for this adaption. And partly because I read it as a writer instead of as a reader and kept thinking of how I would write it, instead of just enjoying this author's version.
Now I still am bugged by the Koba backstory contradiction with "Firestorm". There is simply no excuse for a such a sloppy continuity error in a major release from a huge publisher and a giant movie studio with a team of editors on payroll. And I still think there is WAY too much page time given to the annoying racist/hater Carver.
But that being said, there is so much about this book that is great. Actually, everything about this book, except for those two things, is fantastic.
Bottom line: Enthralling novelization of the best movie of 2014. I am upping my rating from three to four stars. -
I listened to the audiobook, which was 8 hours, 50 minutes, and 20 seconds long and narrated by Christian Rummel. The story sounds more epic when you listen to the film's score throughout. The chronology described in this novelization is a bit off, but I am sure that I am one of few people who will notice. There are minor references to the events of the preceding novel, Firestorm, in which mercenaries were sent to hunt the apes in the Muir Woods, which was set on fire. More background on human characters is provided. Thought processes of various characters are revealed, such as Caesar reasoning whether or not killing Koba could be justified. His claim that Koba is not an ape makes more sense when he realizes that Koba, in his quest for power, has tried to take what makes humans powerful. When I watched the film, I had wished that Rocket had had a larger role and some sort of reaction to the death of his son Ash. Here, he tells Koba, "You kill my son!" This mirrors Battle for the Planet of the Apes, in which Caesar says to Aldo, "You killed my son!" The last conversation between Caesar and Malcolm is more powerful in the film; the novelization leaves out some dialogue that really made that scene beautiful. In the epilogue, a ship containing humans from the north who had been contacted via radio approaches San Francisco as Caesar and the apes stand on top of the tower at daybreak. Caesar wonders who will make the first move in this game of chess, a game that he has played both figuratively and literally since he was very young. This was probably meant to be the stinger of the film before being cut. I am eager to find out more info about the next installment as soon as I can.
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This book was based on the movie, so I had high expectations that a lot would be added that the movie simply didn't have time to cover or explore. The world was the authors oyster.
What I got instead was a movie replica with tiny fragments of extras, and I felt like I'd spent 9 odd hours seeing the movie again.
If you haven't seen the movie then certainly give this book a crack. It is well written and enjoyable. If you have seen the movie, don't read it. You will be left feeling cheated. -
Even though you already know the story from watching the movie, the novelizations add a meaningful layer to your understanding of the movie and the nuances that you might have missed. There are certain things which make more sense and have more creative value when presented in letters. There are a few backstories and logical connections made which the movie cant depict due to various constraints.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is one of my favourite movies and the novelization surely does justice to the movie and I enjoyed it all over again. I will watch the movie with greater understanding the next time. -
A 9hr long audio book, after watching the movies I thought I would enjoy this book series... I am not. I keep feeling like the story writer is constantly trying to come up with ways to make them hate each other.
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Surprisingly good, action-filled sci-fi story. Time to watch the movie it was based on.
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Closer to 4.5. Excellent novelization of an incredible film!
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Better than the movie with so much details on the rise of the apes. Enjoyable quick read.
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The only gripe I have that is very minor is that the prior film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has not recieved a novelization. Thus we have a very, very good novelization of one of the best sequels ever, and no novelization of its also good prior movie. But ignoring that you still have a very good book.
What is very interesting to me is that while the writing isn't unintelligent, the language for the first few chapters is more so simple and straight forward in its storytelling, describing events in a straight forward matter of fashion, and not having dialogue or thoughts of characters that are ultra complicated, but no less intelligent. Once we are introduced to the humans and the conflict of the narrative begins (which happens soon in the novel) does the language and writing pick up. This approach makes sense considering that the apes in the story and film aren't quite evolved to the point of super complex language. Only Caesar and Koba can properly speak aloud while the rest of the apes use American Sign Language, which itself literally would be spoken differnetly than actual English. It's just an interesting tidbit I noticed as I read this book.
Being based on one of the best movies ever and of recent memory, the books story is also very good. Like most novelizations its benefit is fleshing out a lot of background elements and the story. Namely you get a lot of perspectives of various characters, their thoughts, motivations, that you might not be as readily aware of. Most interesting is knowing what Koba is thinking throughout the movie as it sheds light onto the exact moment he begins his big plans. This is also the case for the humans who aren't as focused on as our ape protagonists. We learn more about Malcolm's family, Dreyfus the humans' leader, and even random people.
The biggest surprise might be that the novelization isn't all that different from the film proper. Seeing as the movie is phenomenal this is definitely not a bad thing at all. But it also might be the fact that when Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was being made its script was actually hastily made and I don't believe was completed when filming began. Which is the biggest headscratch considering the film and book itself both have very solid narratives that flow very well. Overall if you liked Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or any of the new planet of the apes movies, then I would recommend buying and reading this novelization.
Oh there is one other Plant of the Apes book I forgot to mention. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm is billed as a prequel to this novelization, and while its similar in some ways and also fleshes out characters deeper than the movies, its more so a direct sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That said I would also say reading and buying Firestorm is definitely worth your purchase and makes sense if you are going to be reading this novelization. -
My full
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization audiobook review can be found at
Audiobook Reviewer.
This is a retelling of a classic tale that I believe will continue to be retold as society continue to develop and change. Paired with a very capable narrator, it will be very difficult for this movie novelization to fail.
Humans have been all but wiped out by a mysterious virus that originated in the apes that were being experimented on. 10 years have passed since the first movie, I don't think they made a novelization of it. This must be some sort of a newer way to gain publicity. That doesn't bother me at all. Cesar has led his band of ape into Muir woods. Successfully creating a new society where ever type of ape lives together in harmony. As their golden rule states: "Ape shall not kill ape".
Everything is going fine for our primate friends. Until they had the bad luck to bump into some human survivors of the plague. This is where the internal struggles of some of the tribe members comes to the surface. Cesar is overthrown as leader and must fight, life or death, to regain his authority.
I think the only reason the humans are even in these stories is to make people want to read or watch the movie. All they were were the antagonists to our protagonist apes. I was able to fully relate and care for man of the apes in the tribe.
The same day that I finished listening to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, the wife and I went to the theater to see it on the big screen. Boy was I disappointed with the movie. Don't get me wrong the movie was some fun eye candy, with ridiculous 3D animation that was out of this world. Yet the movie version left out so many, what I thought were, key items in the plot.
I would highly recommend listening to instead of watching the movie. I got more out of it.
The movie focus mostly on the human ape interactions while the audiobook focuses on the ape ape interactions. That just so happens to have people in it. Oh and the afterward of the book lays out a great way to continue expanding this new classic retelling.
What can I say about Christian Rummel, only one of my favorite narrators. He was easily able to breathe life into this story. Yelling when it called for it. The jumbled slightly distorted speech of Cesar was perfect. The vocal range of a guy who seems to have a pretty naturally deep voice is quite extraordinary. Fill every sentence with the proper emotional filled ear candy.
Audiobook purchased by reviewer. -
I have really enjoyed the new Apes films. Having read the excellent Dawn of the Apes Firestorm prequel book, (this wonderful novel covers the events right after Rise and before Dawn) I looked forward to this book. I saw the Film first, since the book was not released until several days after the film. While the Film was fabulous, (Andy Serkis was truly incredible), some things seemed to be missing from the Film. Other reviewed have noted that scenes in the trailer were not in the theatrical cut of the film. This novel follows the Film, but also gives additional insight into the major players that in some cases was missing from the film. In particular for me the character of Dreyfus, introduced in the Firestorm book, does not come across as one dimensional as he was in the film. I'm guessing some of his storyline was cut. The character of Malcolm was also more fully explained than in the film. Although the Film is powerful, this novel gives a more comprehensive picture of what was happening and why. The author does a wonderful job of characterization and handles the dramatic developments well. It definitely kept my interest. If you haven't already seen the film, I recommend reading the book first, as it will be easier to follow the events of the film. I plan on getting the audio book as well. A definite must read, along with the prequel for fans of the film. I wonder why we don't have a novelization of the first film?
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Listen to this as an audio book, and have not seen the film. As always, the books seem to be better than the adaptation, scenes better set, characters past, feelings and thoughts easier to convey. With this 'book' it was plain to see that the book is an adaptation of a movie, and that what is lost from book to film has not been 'found' again in the film to book adaptation. With the apes being a reflection on mankind and it wrong and rights there was so much missing or more that could have been provoking. Books are not set to a time limit like films, I am sure there must be many in the planet of ape franchise boooks that are better as a read.
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Absolutely rockin' freaky cool. Good writing. Every scene builds up and elaborates on the visuals of the movie. Especially intresting details of the ape culture. So much more emotional. Especially fascinating are the characters Maurice (orangatan) and Luca (gorilla). There are a couple of extra scenes with them that were not in the movie. Also other additional scenes with Koba (the ferocious bonobo). Great suspense. And of course Ceasar is simply awesome.
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good for what it was
It was well written and I enjoyed the story. I was pleasantly surprised to read that the mythology around the rise of the apes was somewhat believable. I could suspend reality enough to believe in the genetic altering of a species combined with a mutated virus that kills off most of mankind. However the Hollywood ending and other theatrics throughout just didn't work for me. -
So much better than the movie itself I think. The humans in the movie lacked character development and Mr. Irvine was able to flesh them out more in this book. This also includes the original ending from the script that was changed in the final film.
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Loved it!!
Can't wait to now see the movie! -
I'd give it 3.5 stars. I grabbed the audiobook for $4 as a daily deal from Audible. This is my first ever movie novelization. I was pleasantly surprised - strong story.
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The book was a nice reminder of the movie.
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Exceptional . Better than the film.
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Just brilliant. If you have seen the film you will not be disappointed.
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Love this book x
