Top 10 Best Ape Movies of All Time


10. Dunston Checks, 1996
Robert Grant (Jason Alexander) is the concierge of the elegant Majestic Hotel. With inspectors due for a surprise visit, the Majestic's owner, Mrs. Dubrow (Faye Dunaway), puts extra pressure on Robert to keep the establishment running flawlessly. Robert, hoping to be rewarded with some time off of work to relax with his sons (Eric Lloyd, Graham Sack), vows to put the utmost care into his duties -- a task that's complicated by one guest's unruly, light-fingered orangutan, Dunston.
9. Project X 1987
As punishment for a minor offense, the Air Force assigns pilot Jimmy Garrett (Matthew Broderick) to watch over a group of chimpanzees used for military experiments. Jimmy bonds with Virgil, a chimp capable of communicating with sign language. But when he witnesses the military's plan to kill the animals with radiation, Jimmy enlists the help of Teri MacDonald (Helen Hunt), the graduate student responsible for teaching sign language to Virgil, to free the chimps.
8. Congo 1995
Scientist Karen Ross (Laura Linney) is sent by her father-in-law, mogul R.B. Travis (Joe Don Baker), to the Congo to determine the whereabouts of his son's missing diamond-hunting team. Led by expert guide Kelly (Ernie Hudson), Ross and a mismatched search party -- including primatologist Dr. Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh), treasure hunter Herkermer Homolka (Tim Curry) and a gorilla -- discover a danger far more sinister than anything they expected to find, even in the heart of the jungle.
7. Mighty Joe Young 1998
As a child living in Africa, Jill Young (Charlize Theron) saw her mother killed while protecting wild gorillas from poachers led by Andrei Strasser (Rade Serbedzija). Now an adult, Jill cares for an orphaned gorilla named Joe -- who, due to a genetic anomaly, is 15 feet tall. When Gregg O'Hara (Bill Paxton) arrives from California and sees the animal, he convinces Jill that Joe would be safest at his wildlife refuge. But Strasser follows them to the U.S., intent on capturing Joe for himself.
6. Gorillas in the Mist 1988
This film is an adaptation of wildlife expert Dian Fossey's autobiography. Midwesterner Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) leaves the United States for Africa, where she studies the gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda. As Fossey develops a bond with the animals, she also becomes wary of the poachers who prey on them. Fearing that the gorillas will go extinct if humans continue to hunt them, she organizes a defense league to protect the animals; in doing so, though, she puts herself in a perilous situation.
5. King Kong 1976
When a research ship is sent to explore an island thought to be rich in oil, paleontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) sneaks aboard, having heard strange rumors about the island. En route, the crew rescues Dwan (Jessica Lange), the sole survivor of a shipwreck. When they arrive, they find native people living in fear of a monster called Kong. The natives kidnap Dwan and sacrifice her to what turns out to be an enormous ape. Dwan is eventually rescued, and the ape captured for a gala exhibit.
4. King Kong 1933
Actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) travel to the Indian Ocean to do location shoots for Denham's new jungle picture. Along the way, the actress meets and falls for rugged First Mate John Driscoll (Bruce Cabot). Upon arriving at a mysterious island, Ann is taken hostage by natives who prepare her as a sacrifice to the enormous ape Kong who rules over their jungle. But when Ann is rescued and Kong is captured, the real trouble begins.
3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2011
Will Rodman (James Franco), a scientist in San Francisco, is experimenting with a drug that he hopes will cure his father's (John Lithgow) Alzheimer's disease. After his work is deemed a failure, Will becomes the guardian of Caesar, an infant chimp who was exposed in-utero to Will's drug. Caesar displays unusual intelligence, and Will decides to continue his experiments secretly. But as Caesar's intellect and abilities grow, he comes to represent a threat to man's dominion over Earth.
2. Planet of the Apes 1968
Complex sociological themes run through this science-fiction classic about three astronauts marooned on a futuristic planet where apes rule and humans are slaves. The stunned trio discovers that these highly intellectual simians can both walk upright and talk. They have even established a class system and a political structure. The astronauts suddenly find themselves part of a devalued species, trapped and imprisoned by the apes.
1. King Kong 2005
Peter Jackson's expansive remake of the 1933 classic follows director Carl Denham (Jack Black) and his crew on a journey from New York City to the ominous Skull Island to film a new movie. Accompanying him are playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) and actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), who is whisked away by the monstrous ape, Kong, after they reach the island. The crew encounters dinosaurs and other creatures as they race to rescue Ann, while the actress forms a bond with her simian captor.