There's something generally unsatisfying about modern prequels. These days they seem to be used as a way of stretching out a franchise, by arrogantly assuming that audiences really care about the back stories of certain characters, when really they don't. A good example of this would be the recent X-Men: First Class; a whole story was generated just to show how a bunch of individuals got their respective superpowers. But having seen the sequel already, there's very little left by way of surprises.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes however, is a refreshing exception to the prequel rule.

Science has a way of throwing up some real dilemmas. One of the biggest is the testing of drugs on animals before dispensing them to humans. Not that scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) is wrestled by guilt; he's working on a cure for Alzheimer's and his current formula ALZ-112 is showing remarkable promise with his main test subject, a chimp called Bright Eyes.

Rodman isn't only doing this to forward his scientific career; he's also emotionally invested in the project, since his father Charles (John Lithgow) suffers from the disease.

Just when they thought they were close to making a breakthrough, Bright Eyes begins to exhibit aggressive behaviour. This is initially attributed to the drug, but it's eventually discovered that she has given birth and is only protecting her young.

With the entire project now on hold, Will takes the baby chimp away to protect him from being destroyed. And what was initially supposed to be a stay of a few days ends up being years. The chimp he named Caesar (Andy Sirkis) becomes a real part of the family. Not only that, but due to the fact that his mother passed on some of the ALZ-112 in her genes, he is incredibly intelligent.

One mishap however, changes everything, and sees Caesar taken to an ape sanctuary to be supposedly rehabilitated. The truth of the matter is that the staff aren't really animal people and they treat their ape community more like prisoners.

But with Caesar being the Yogi of his peers (i.e. smarter than your average ape) it's not long before everyone realises that you shouldn't really monkey around with nature.

You know what, they've really pushed us too far now with these bloody road works. They're not even working there!!!

It's difficult to believe that the original Planet of the Apes film was released back in 1968. Not only did it spawn four sequels (albeit ones that deteriorated in quality with each successive release) but also a short-lived TV series (although many may remember it fondly from their childhoods it actually only ran for one season, comprising 14 episodes).

Considering the amount of sequels the original film had, it's surprising that no one came up with the idea of a prequel back then. It's a really simple premise, but a quietly ingenious one. Unlike other prequels, there's something intriguing about the notion of how the apes did manage take over the world. This film satisfies that particular curiosity.

It could be accused of being far-fetched in places, but only by those that either haven't seen any of the earlier films, including Tim Burton's 2001 patchy re-boot, or simply weren't fans; but considering that all of the previous films have featured talking chimps and apes, this film serves its purpose well as a prequel.

Where it lets itself down a little is in the acting. The jury is still out on James Franco, who once again puts in the type of performance that doesn't quite live up to A-list status. He's just a little too pedestrian with emoting with both the human cast and the animals. Granted, the majority of the simians involved are of the CGI variety, but if Jim Carrey of all people can do it with penguins, then there's no excuse for anyone.

Brian Cox also makes an appearance, as does Tom Felton who's probably just thankful to be out of his school uniform. Make no mistake though, the real star of this show is Caesar. It's one of those performances where Sirkis once again literally gets the credit for flapping around in a CGI suit with ping pong balls attached, but most of the hard work must be down to the CGI team who are busy crunching all the binary numbers in the background. It's one of those films that all too sadly makes you aware that all the chimps involved are powered by Intel inside. But once you accept that fact, you can move merrily along.

And although Rupert Wyatt is yet another example of a beneficiary of the trend for studios handing over big blockbuster titles to relative newbies to direct, he does well to convey a real sense of emotional growth in Caesar's character; in fact the only character that really suffers from a dilemma.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may well have dragged its knuckles getting here, taking over forty years to reveal just how those pesky chimps and apes took over the planet in the first place, but it was worth the wait.

It's a welcome addition to the Planet of the Apes franchise, one that also proves that a prequel can work under the right circumstances, in the right hands. This chimp is thankfully no chump.