This film continues the franchise's tradition of delivering thought-provoking and visually stunning sci-fi. The film shines with its impressive special effects and CGI, which bring the apes to life in a remarkably realistic way. The world-building is expansive, offering a fresh take on the franchise's post-apocalyptic setting that's both intriguing and immersive. The story introduces new layers to the apes' society and their conflicts, maintaining the series' hallmark of exploring complex themes through its characters.

The performances, particularly from the lead actors portraying the apes, are compelling, adding depth and emotion to their roles. The action sequences are well-choreographed and engaging, keeping the tension high throughout.

However, the film does stumble slightly in its pacing. Some parts of the story drag, and there are moments where the narrative feels overly familiar, relying on tropes from previous installments. Additionally, while the new characters are interesting, they don't always receive the development needed to make a strong impact.

Overall, this is a strong entry in the series that continues to captivate with its imaginative world and impressive visuals, even if it occasionally falls into predictable patterns. It's a satisfying watch for fans and newcomers alike, with enough to offer to keep the franchise's legacy alive.

Weakest of all the post 2010 POTA movies imo. Too much ape politics, family life and philosophising and too little else. The original and Beneath the POTA are still by far the best two POTA movies for me, and all done without CGI. You can only be wowed for so long by how well the apes are rendered and for me that ran out of steam 2 movies ago. This movie seems to serve little purpose other than to set up the next one. Couple of nice flash backs to the original (the human hunt horns and the music when they encounter the scarecrows on the bridge) but other than that, an overly long, pretty forgettable movie with a lame story and script.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes isn't a bad film, nowhere near as impressive as the other films in the franchise. Whereas Rise and Dawn had really interesting explorations of the human condition, and presenting human nature as being both inherently selfish and inherently altruistic in an engaging manner, Kingdom fails to present human characters of much substance. The female lead lacks depth, she's just inherently selfish throughout the entire film, even as going so far as to use Noa to get the satellite link.

The opening to the film, after the egg scene which was very strong, was a little weak. Caeser strives incrediblely hard to find his oasis, and yet it gets destroyed within the first 15 minutes of the film, in about 5 minutes? It effectively retconned the last film, Caeser's sacrifice was for nothing.

The ending is quite good. By introducing the concept of the human survivors, it makes for an interesting way to introduce a new trilogy. Kingdom isn't necessarily a bad film, but nowhere near as impressive as the complexity of Rise and Dawn, or even the original Planet of the Apes and Beneath the planet of the apes.