Except we are hearers of the story, not the tellers. How long was Taylor in space, and what for? How did they arrive on this ape planet? Where does it exist? On another planet, on it's own planet? The film doesn't explain itself, it expects the viewer to put the pieces together. The huge flaw in my opinion is the pacing of the story, which for the first half was unbelievably slow and didn't have much detail to it. A good look has to be taken to see the actor underneath.

But through well done design, they look like apes. Also astounding is the makeup done on the apes to make them look almost 'evolved' into humans, which was kind of the point. First off, the visuals here are quite well captured and the landscapes and backdrops, much like The Ten Commandments, enhance the set to where the supernatural surrealism of the picture feels like a hands-on experience. The rest takes on this scientific debate whether man or ape first existed through cracks at religion, science, evolution, and many controversial arousing subjects that would make today's filmgoers cringe with emotional defenses slowly rising. Finally, he breaks his silence with the trademark line 'Get your hands off me, you damn dirty ape!'. Heston's character gets cut in the throat, which renders him mute through most of the first quarter. They come across a tribe of apes representing a sort of medieval society in an alternate world, and soon they are taken prisoner. George Taylor and his merry men of space explorers survive their sinking spacecraft and land on a seemingly deserted planet where they at first take a liking to finally being on land with fresh water. We are introduced to the film by the spaceship landing where I assume we are supposed to care about these characters.

Watching Planet of the Apes, I found I much enjoyed the elements surrounding the movie more than the progression of the film itself.

Symbolism in planet of the apes