“Charleton Heston was so set on there not being anymore sequels, he was the one who suggested that Beneath end with Taylor detonating the nuke. Entire Earth go boom. Problem solved. He didn’t count on our two most beloved apes, Zira and Cornelius, sneaking onto a spaceship with (with third, Dr Milo) and finding their way back to their past/our present earth.
Ignore the bad science for getting them there, and you’ve got a pretty brilliant continuation of the story. Now the tables are turned. The apes are the misunderstood creatures being studied. Yet their welcome once their intelligence is discovered proves to be quite different from Taylor’s. For a time at least.
I’m kinda loving this one. Zira and Cornelius are wonderful characters, so I am more than happy to follow them around. I love how fun and quirky they are (“”Does the other one speak?”” “”Only when she lets me!””). By this point in the franchise, Roddy MacDowall and Kim Hunter have learned how to be incredibly expressive behind their thick makeup. Absolutely sympathetic characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed following their earthly adventures, as grim a turn as they may have taken.”