Another wonderful day for the Apes franchise.

On no planet - ape or otherwise - did anyone see this coming. When the then 20th Century Fox announced a reboot of the long dormant Planet of the Apes franchise was on its way, many took one look at that DVD of Tim Burton’s muddled remake gathering dust on the shelf and shook their head in unison.

Beginning with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, this newly conceived franchise snuck up on an unsuspecting world like the Simian Flu, however, all things considered, it really shouldn’t have worked. In revisiting a fifty-year-old property with dwindling public interest, few gave it much hope, yet, through a well-executed script, a compelling premise, and a potent execution, Rise quietly and deliberately built the foundations for what would become one of modern cinema’s premiere franchises.

With effects technology growing from strength to strength and now able to fulfil even the most ambitious of concepts, and with the abundantly talented Matt Reeves drafted in to see the ‘Caesar Trilogy’ to its conclusion, the series hasn’t looked back.

So here we stand, many years after the apes took charge of the planet, and it’s become an oddly cathartic place to be. With a new parent studio, a new director, and a new generation of simians to invest in, the future remains bright for a franchise many left for dead decades ago.

Three centuries on from the war between the San Francisco ape colony and Alpha-Omega, several simian clans have emerged, while humans have continued to regress into a feral state. When the ape leader, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) perverts the teachings of Caesar in a bid to enslave other clans and coax them into helping him unearth the last traces of human technology, one young ape, Noa (Owen Teague), embarks on a long and perilous journey to find freedom.

While financially you’d class the ‘Caesar Trilogy’ as a solid box office success, the overall impact those three films had on the wider industry cannot be overstated. From Rise to War, what this trilogy managed to accomplish as a piece of grown up, high concept, character-focused blockbuster cinema was astonishing and well and truly put the long-forgotten Planet of the Apes franchise back on the map.

To follow on from what Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves accomplished is no mean feat, so the pressure was certainly on when director Wes Ball picked up the franchise – umm – ball and ran with it. Questions were definitely asked when the Maze Runner director was hired, however, in hindsight, such worries appear unfounded, as Ball picks up where the original trilogy left off without missing a beat.

Picking the Apes timeline up many years on from where we left Caesar et al, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has all the hallmarks we demand from this franchise, yet everything feels like it’s been given a very necessary and very natural evolutionary glow-up.

While primarily focused on one character, by taking us from the inception of the Simian Flu to humanity’s last hurrah, the ‘Caesar Trilogy’ nevertheless did a superb job of building the necessary Planet of the Apes foundations and the platform from which a full-blown ape takeover could be launched. From here, Kingdom does exceptionally well to honour what its predecessors built while having the gumption to forge its own path into the future.

The result is an expansion in every sense of the word. Of course, picking things up 300 years after Caesar’s passing, it’s only natural that we’d need a whole new set of characters to invest in, yet Kingdom does so much more than merely drop a bunch of new apes on us and run. It builds out new environments, new colonies, and a whole new set of cultures to live in and experience.

With three centuries of evolution in their back pocket, these apes are certainly a far more expansive bunch than the ones we left behind at the end of War, as is the world around them. With new societies, clans, and cultures forming, Kingdom’s environment feels satisfyingly bigger and fuller than anything we’ve seen before, and while the characters we meet within it aren’t as instantly captivating as your Kobas and your Caesars, they certainly fit in well with this new world and are thoroughly compelling in their own right.

As our protagonist in this brave new simian world, Noa may not possess the presence or the gravitas that Caesar once held, yet there’s certainly enough to him as a character and to Owen Teague’s performance to warrant our investment and empathy. Likewise, Proximus Caesar doesn’t quite have the same menace or terrifying aura that Koba once held, however, Kevin Durand’s performance is an absolute powerhouse, making Proximus a true force to be reckoned with.

Both apes, as well as those around them (simian and human alike), certainly have elements and characteristics of their ancestors, yet they all work well as their own thing entirely. It’s perhaps the nature of expanding the Apes universe and pushing it, as Wes Ball does, into far more action-adventure territory, that the superlative character work of the first three films feels less developed, however, as the first page in a new chapter for the franchise, there’s more than enough promise there to keep you invested.

For all their merits, the rebooted Apes trilogy was a very driven, very focused beast, with Dawn and War in particular almost singularly focused on one set of characters and one location, yet Kingdom immediately does away with this, taking things into more adventurous territory, both visually and narratively. The result, while not hitting as deep as its predecessors, is a far more expansive, outright entertaining viewing experience.

On all fronts, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a visual triumph. As we join Noa on his quest from the rickety wooden skyscrapers of his clan’s village, through the haunting remains of cities now reclaimed by nature, to the decaying ships beached along the coastline, Kingdom fully immerses us in this (largely) human-free world, inviting us to sit back and soak it all in.

As you’d expect, together with these mightily impressive landscapes, the ape effects are equally, if not more, jaw-dropping than anything we’ve seen before. Continuing in the tradition set up by the first three films, Kingdom’s character visual effects are an absolute triumph, with the motion capture technology now at a point where the appearances of Noa, Proximus and the rest of the apes are almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Granted, Andy Serkis is no longer around to fully immerse both us and himself in his art, yet those chosen to walk in his chimpanzee footsteps do him very proud indeed, ensuring that we’re always fully locked into each character and never once question the collection of pixels put in front of us.

Wrapped around all this, the film’s plot is quite the slow burn, and clocking in at a lengthy 145 minutes, is certainly on the drawn-out side of things, however, the measured tempo never once hinders things, and after a creaky start, the pace slowly but surely picks up. This is, after all, our first introduction to this new era and to these new characters, so it makes complete sense that we’re allowed time and space to sit with the world and let it soak in.

For all this thoughtful pace, however, something does appear a little amiss with the plot. With distinctive echoes from previous Apes films ringing through its hauntingly sparse landscapes, Kingdom’s narrative feels very familiar, and as we enter the second and third acts, never quite finds enough of a footing to fully deliver on its promise.

Despite the long run time, there are certainly parts of the narrative that never feel fully fleshed out. Of these issues, the lack of depth to our villain, Proximus Caesar, is the film’s biggest miss, and while the character has more than enough presence about him, you’re left wanting more from the character, his motivations, and his twisted beliefs.

Building on the themes set up so astutely by War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom explores the topic of religion, and delves rather astutely into its failings, its benefits, and how easily it is for seemingly noble words to be twisted and corrupted beyond all recognition. As Proximus utilises the skewed words of Caesar to brutally indoctrinate fellow apes, while Noa is enlightened to a more benevolent take on Caesar’s teachings, the story is an opaque allegory for religion, and while it never goes quite as deep as you want it to, it nonetheless makes for engaging, thought provoking viewing.

Much like its environments and characters, Kingdom’s themes are both a logical and beautiful expansion on everything that’s gone before. Yes, it largely feels like a feature-length setup and the start of a new chapter, while merely scratching the surface of the topics and narratives it broaches, however, this really is only the beginning of a new era for the Apes story, and it’ll be rather exciting to see where Wes Ball takes things next.

While it certainly doesn’t hit as hard or as deep as the ‘Caesar Trilogy’, there really is so much to appreciate with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Wonderfully shot and thematically rich, Kingdom is a beautifully rendered, thoughtfully told slow burn and a thoroughly compelling evolution of the franchise.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is in cinemas worldwide now.