I expected very little from this movie, and was pleasantly surprised in all kinds of ways.

The plot is what you think it is – this is the story of how reckless science creates the super-apes that knock Man off his spot at the apex of the food chain. The acting is what you’d expect in a this kind of sci-fi potboiler.

With one exception. Andy Serkis plays Caesar, the first ape born with the mutation that changes everything. And by “plays” I guess I mean that he wore the motion capture suit that forms the basis for all of Caesar’s physicality. Caesar is the heart of this film, and he can’t address the camera with words. The degree to which Serkis and the animators achieve real communication with the audience is flat-out astonishing.

The uncanny-valley effect that generally makes mo-cap characters unpleasant to watch apparently only applies to humans, because I was rarely reminded that there was no physical Caesar. It’s very easy to accept him as a physical part of the film’s world and to relate to him just as much as you do to James Franco.

For my money, it’s the first really worthwhile popcorn flick of the summer.