Medical science fiction, however, can go seriously awry. That’s the theme of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Rupert Wyatt. Medical scientist Will Rodman (played by James Franco) is trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, which afflicts his father, Charles (played by John Lithgow). Before human trials, as usual, serums are first tried on apes. When Will finds a serum that appears promising, he injects his dad, who in turn improves almost miraculously, but soon the effects wear off. Rather than giving his father a booster shot, he instead works on a more improved serum. Meanwhile, Will has also been trying to improve the intelligence of Caesar (played by And Serkis), one of the apes. For reasons unconvincingly explained in the film, Will takes Caesar home to live with his family. Inevitably, Caesar gets out of the house, tries muscle to save someone from assault by an angry neighbor, and is hauled away by the police as a dangerous animal. But to get Caesar back home, there must be a court hearing, and that cannot be booked until 90 days later. Meanwhile, Caesar is let loose with the other apes in a play yard when he is not caged in a cell. But Caesar is very smart. He can mobilize the other apes to escape from the facility. They head for the lab to get injections of the serum, improving their intelligence, and soon they are marching out of San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge. As credits roll, the future dispersion of the apes is traced on a world map. But if Rise is supposed to be a prequel to The Planet of the Apes (1968), the same loose end is unresolved: If humans set off atomic bombs to destroy the earth, why did apes survive? If you want to know, write the next in the series! MH