(CBS) Among the crop of summer blockbusters, Rupert Wyatt’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” ranks as one of the more entertaining and – probably – the most thought-provoking of the heavy hitters.

Set in present-day San Francisco, the film is an original telling that serves as a precursor to 1968’s  “Planet of the Apes,” starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall.

Will (James Franco) is a scientist on the brink of finding a cure for Alzheimers. Using chimpanzees as guinea pigs, he thinks he has discovered a cure for the irreversible disease when one of the chimps starts to display unparalleled growth in intelligence after using his miracle drug, 스포츠 조이 라이브 ALZ 112, in clinical trials.

Pictures: Summer movies 2011Read More: How the new “Planet of the Apes ” was made

Money is not the motivator for Will. He wants to the company he works for to  bring the drug on the market and make it available for human use. His aging father (John Lithgow) is suffering from advanced Alzheimers and quickly deteriorating.

When a meeting to persuade the company’s board  to begin human clinical trials  goes  tragically wrong, Franco’s character takes things into his own hands. He rescues an orphaned chimp from his test group, hiding the chimp in his home and using him to secretly continue testing his miracle drug.

Fast forward three years and the chimp, named Caesar, displays signs of superior inherited intelligence, a result of his mother being given ALZ 112. Caesar thinks he’s more human than ape and learns to sign and likes to dress well – in pants and a shirt – and hang out with Will and his girlfriend, played by Freida Pinto. Believing there to be no adverse side effects to the drug, Will injects the potent serum into his father and miraculously reverses the effects of Alzheimers on him.

Meanwhile, Caesar finds himself in trouble when he attacks a neighbor after a fight breaks out between him and Will’s father. The chimp is removed from Will and placed in a chimpanzee sanctuary with other primates and in an unfamiliar, undomesticated environment. Caesar (brilliantly played by Andy Serkis) soon plots a way to break out and take the rest of his newfound brethren with him.

Director Rupert Wyatt does great work, creating a film full of emotional moments juxtaposed with tension. There develops a sense of awe for the primates he captures on screen. Intelligently thought out, this reboot has a storyline that seems completely plausible and more believable than many of the storylines fed to moviegoers this summer.

Many of the awe-inspiring moments in the film can be attributed to the excellent use of CGI to create chimps that look and move as if they’re completely real. Franco does well reining in his character and the scenes between him and Serkis’ Caesar are more akin to those of a father and a son than an owner and his pet.

Lithgow does a fine job as the suffering father, but we never really learn the depth of his pain as he degenerates because of the disease. Pinto seems to cruise through the film, merely along for the ride, but she and Franco do look good together.

The final set piece will take your breath away and shows to good effect the theme throughout the film: that the humans are the supporting cast to the apes in this first-rate, fast-paced, action-suspense movie that will likely spawn a rebirth of the franchise.