life with father movie review

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Link to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
• The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
• The Last Stop in Yuma County Link to The Last Stop in Yuma County

New TV Tonight

• Doctor Who: Season 1
• Blood of Zeus: Season 2
• Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: Season 2
• Black Twitter: A People's History: Season 1
• Dark Matter: Season 1
• Bodkin: Season 1
• Hollywood Con Queen: Season 1
• The Chi: Season 6
• Reginald the Vampire: Season 2
• Love Undercover: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• A Man in Full: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Hacks: Season 3
• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• Them: Season 2
• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• X-Men '97: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Doctor Who: Season 1 Link to Doctor Who: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Roger Corman’s Best Movies

100 Best Movies on Tubi (May 2024)

Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Rotten Tomatoes Predicts the 2024 Emmy Nominations

8 Things To Know About The New Season Of Doctor Who

• Trending on RT
• Furiosa First Reactions
• Streaming in May
• New Doctor Who
• Planet of the Apes Reviews

Life With Father

Where to watch.

Watch Life With Father with a subscription on Prime Video, rent on Fandango at Home, or buy on Fandango at Home.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Michael Curtiz

William Powell

Clarence Day, Sr.

Irene Dunne

Elizabeth Taylor

Mary Skinner

Edmund Gwenn

Rev. Dr. Lloyd

Cora Cartwright

More Like This

Awesome, you're subscribed!

Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!

The best things in life are free.

Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush).

Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another?

By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.

Love the mag?

Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.

• Things to Do
• Food & Drink
• Arts & Culture
• Time Out Market
• Coca-Cola Foodmarks
• Los Angeles

Get us in your inbox

🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!

Life with Father

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 118 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Michael Curtiz
• Screenwriter: Donald Ogden Stewart
• William Powell
• Irene Dunne
• Jimmy Lydon
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Edmund Gwenn
• Martin Milner
• Moroni Olsen
• Elizabeth Risdon

An email you’ll actually love

Discover Time Out original video

• Press office
• Investor relations
• Work for Time Out
• Editorial guidelines
• Privacy notice
• Do not sell my information
• Cookie policy
• Accessibility statement
• Terms of use
• Modern slavery statement
• Manage cookies
• Advertising

Time Out Worldwide

• All Time Out Locations
• North America
• South America
• South Pacific

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

• TV Listings
• Cast & Crew

Life With Father Reviews

• 73   Metascore
• 1 hr 58 mins
• Family, Comedy
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Adaptation of the long-running Broadway hit stars Best Actor nominee William Powell as a blustery but goodhearted 1880s Wall Street broker, who thinks he runs his household by-the-book, but becomes unsettled when his wife learns that he is not baptized, even though he grouses that they "can't keep me out of heaven on a technicality."

Reviewed By: Richard Gilliam

Life With Father is yet another well-made film from the versatile Michael Curtiz, who probably directed more types of films well than anyone else in screen history. This is another "family values" film from the post-WWII era, with William Powell as the loving patriarch and Irene Dunne as the wife who understands her duties to gender traditions. One of the best reasons to watch is to see a young Elizabeth Taylor in an important supporting role. The film does not so much evoke the values of a bygone era as advocate them, and current-day audiences may have difficulty relating to its simplistic world view. As with nearly all of Curtiz' studio efforts, the production is first-rate, the performances strong, and the events fast-moving. The film is perhaps better remembered by reputation than by re-viewing, but it was one of Warner Bros.' top films of the era, and it remains a well-constructed piece of commercial filmmaking.

"We waste our money so you don't have to."

"We waste our money, so you don't have to."

Movie Review

Life with father.

US Release Date: 09-13-1947

Directed by: Michael Curtiz

Starring ▸ ▾

• William Powell ,  as
• Clarence Day, Sr.
• Irene Dunne ,  as
• Elizabeth Taylor ,  as
• Mary Skinner
• Edmund Gwenn ,  as
• Rev. Dr. Lloyd
• Zasu Pitts ,  as
• Cousin Cora Cartwright
• Jimmy Lydon ,  as
• Clarence Day, Jr.
• Emma Dunn ,  as
• Moroni Olsen ,  as
• Dr. Humphries
• Derek Scott ,  as
• Johnny Calkins ,  as
• Whitney Benjamin Day
• Martin Milner ,  as
• Heather Wilde ,  as
• Monte Blue ,  as
• The Policeman
• Mary Field ,  as
• Queenie Leonard ,  as
• Clara Blandick as
• Miss Wiggins

The Day family in Life with Father .

Based on the long running Broadway play that was itself based on the memoirs of Clarence Day, Life with Father is a wonderful, heartwarming story of a time long gone by. The play ran for 8 years and over 3,000 performances. It remains to this day the longest running non-musical play in Broadway history.

This Warner Brothers’ production seems more like an MGM movie in look and feel. It was shot in Technicolor and recreates New York City circa 1883. It is kind of an urban version of Meet Me in St. Louis , only without the music. The fact that MGM lent stars William Powell and Elizabeth Taylor only adds to that sense. Michael Curtiz directed with his usual competence.

The story takes place over the course of a few weeks in the life of the Day family. Clarence Day Sr. is a successful broker on Wall Street and his family lives in high style on tony Madison Avenue. He and his wife Vinnie have four red-headed sons. The youngest is about five and the oldest is soon heading off to college. Due to the father’s bombastic outbursts the Day family has a hard time keeping a maid. He thinks he runs his house with an iron fist but it is really Mrs. Day that keeps things operating smoothly.

There isn’t much of a plot. Mrs. Day spends too much money and annoys her husband. A relative comes to visit with a teenaged girl in tow (Elizabeth Taylor at her most innocent). She begins a romance with the oldest son, Clarence Day Jr. His big problem is figuring out how to acquire a new suit for college. He is given a hand-me-down one of his fathers’ and finds himself unable to do anything while wearing the suit that his father wouldn’t do. To his mother’s chagrin this includes kneeling down in church. One of the running gags is that every time mail arrives for the son, the father assumes it is for him and opens it. The second son gets in trouble selling some sort of phony medicine that makes his mother sick when he puts it in her tea.

The biggest plot device comes when Elizabeth Taylor’s character innocently asks Mr. Day about his baptism and it is revealed that he never was. Mrs. Day then spends most of the movie trying to manipulate her husband into being baptized, while he firmly puts his foot down in refusal. I’ll bet you can guess who wins this battle of wills.

The cast is excellent. William Powell gives the performance of his career as the outwardly stern but not so secretly kind-hearted father. Eric, he says a line that I know you would appreciate. In complete exasperation he asks, “Why did God make so many dumb fools and Democrats?” Irene Dunne is perfect as his elegant but slightly flighty wife. They have the following exchange about church. Father: “I don't go to church to be preached at as though I were some lost sheep.” Vinnie: “Clare, you don't seem to understand what the Church is for.” Father: “Vinnie, if there's one place the Church should leave alone, it's a man's soul!”

Elizabeth Taylor’s role is small but she leaves a big impression. Her star wattage was already in evidence. Jimmy Lydon and Martin Milner are good as the two oldest sons; while Zasu Pitts and Edmund Gwenn round out the cast as Cousin Cora and Reverend Lloyd respectively. One interesting bit of trivia is that Mary Pickford planned on returning to the silver screen, after a 14 year absence, to play Vinnie.  She even made a screen test, but ultimately Curtiz decided to go with Irene Dunne.

Life with Father is a highly sentimental look at life in late 19th Century Manhattan as filtered through the Hollywood lens of the 1940s. The Day family leads a life of such innocence and luxury that it’s hard to imagine anyone actually living as they do. This movie is a sweet reminder of days gone by and Life with Father .  

Jimmy Lydon and Elizabeth Taylor in Life with Father

Patrick, of course I love the line, “Why did God make so many dumb fools and Democrats?” It is something I will definitely be screaming this fall when I see Hillary Clinton get any amount of votes. Seriously, spend the slightest amount of time looking up anything in this woman's shady past and you would have to be a dumb fool to vote for her. She would not know the truth if it pinned her to a wall and slapped her across the face. Hey, you started this conversation Patrick.

Anyway, I enjoyed Life with Father and its old fashioned sentimental family innocence. I see my brother's point that father thinks he runs the house while mother actually does. However, I will take a more diplomatic approach. I think singularly, neither would thrive as a single parent. Father cannot see what is right in front of his face. He insults the maid and then asks ignorantly why she is crying. Mother schemes to get money from father, acting as if she has no clue how finances work. Father earns the money and controls it, as he should. Watch the scene where she insists he owes her $1.50. I am not sure if she thinks he is stupid or that she sincerely is. Either way, they each make up for the others shortcomings and together make a great pair of parents.

I also enjoyed the budding love story between Mary and Clarence Day Jr. As Patrick wrote, it is an innocent affair but the writers knew how to say so much more without being crude. Look at how they each tell the other that they are virgins. Mary asks a violin playing Jr. if he has ever performed a duet as she plays piano. He answers no and asks her the same question. She responds no with a little smile and everything is understood. My favorite moment that they share is when Mary sits flirtatiously on Jr.'s lap and he looks straight ahead and tells her to get up with all urgency. Hey, the body responds how the body responds.

At another point, Father has a conversation with Jr. about women, where all he tells him is that a man has to be firm with them and, "You just have to make them understand that what you are doing is for their good." A disappointed Jr. thought he was going to get more "details" a bout women but Father explains, "C larence, there are some things gentlemen don't discuss! I told you all you need to know." Maybe he was stating more than Jr. thought when he used the word, "firm."

Life with Father is a pleasant watch about a loving family whose problems seem pathetically meager compared to anything any of the rest of our families have ever experienced. It will put a smile on your face and warm your heart to think that such families exist.

Photos © Copyright Warner Bros. Pictures (1947)

© 2000 - 2017 Three Movie Buffs. All Rights Reserved.

MPAA Rating

Produced by, life with father (1947), directed by michael curtiz.

• AllMovie Rating 9
• User Ratings ( 0 )
• Your Rating
• Overview ↓
• AllMovie Review Review ↓
• User Reviews ↓
• Cast & Crew ↓
• Awards ↓
• Releases ↓
• Related ↓

Review by Richard Gilliam

Life With Father is yet another well-made film from the versatile Michael Curtiz, who probably directed more types of films well than anyone else in screen history. This is another "family values" film from the post-WWII era, with William Powell as the loving patriarch and Irene Dunne as the wife who understands her duties to gender traditions. One of the best reasons to watch is to see a young Elizabeth Taylor in an important supporting role. The film does not so much evoke the values of a bygone era as advocate them, and current-day audiences may have difficulty relating to its simplistic world view. As with nearly all of Curtiz' studio efforts, the production is first-rate, the performances strong, and the events fast-moving. The film is perhaps better remembered by reputation than by re-viewing, but it was one of Warner Bros.' top films of the era, and it remains a well-constructed piece of commercial filmmaking.

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

Life With Father

Customers also watched.

Cast and Crew

Other formats

1364 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

' Life With Father,' Starring William Powell, Irene Donne, Recaptures Charm That Made the Lindsay-Crouse Play a Hit

A round-robin of praise is immediately in order for all those, and they were many indeed, who assisted in filming "Life With Father." All that the fabulous play had to offer in the way of charm, comedy, humor and gentle pathos is beautifully realized in the handsomely Technicolored picture, which opened yesterday at the Warner (formerly the Hollywood) Theatre. William Powell is every inch Father, from his carrot patch dome to the tip of his button-up shoes. Even his voice, always so distinctive, has taken on a new quality, so completely has Mr. Powell managed to submerge his own personality. His Father is not merely a performance; it is character delineation of a high order and he so utterly dominates the picture that even when he is not on hand his presence is still felt.The Warner Brothers have kept faith with both the letter and the spirit of the play fashioned by Howard Lindsay and Russel Grouse from the late Clarence Day's memoirs of his father. Most of the action still takes place in the living room of the Day residence, 420 Madison Avenue. The atmosphere of the period, 1883, is recaptured with all the rich flavor of a Currier & Ives print, even though Father's "damns" have been excised. But his thunderous "oh, gads!" and explosive "what in tar-nations" are carefully preserved in the screen play written by Donald Ogden Stewart. However, while the camera provides a scope and fluidity of action which necessarily was missing on the stage, the benefits thus derived are more of a pictorial than a dramatic nature, for the pace of the story always accelerates when the camera is simply reproducing scenes as done on the stage.It sounds a bit absurd to be saying after all these years—eight to be exact—that "Life With Father" is the perfect family entertainment and that in it most everyone will notice a resemblance to something in his own family life. But that's the way it is, and perhaps there are some late comers who would like to know just a little about this domestic classic. Actually, "Life With Father" is not so much a story as it is a reflection of little incidents, which agitate a short tempered, despotic parent They are the kind of crises peculiar to family life, where a prudent husband and father of four sons attempts to run his home on a business-like basis. While Father goes into a towering rage at the slightest provocation, stamping his feet at the breakfast table when the coffee isn't right, he is at heart a very kind, tolerant and sympathetic old man (and we use that term most affectionately).For all his bluff and independence, Father would be lost without his patient, understanding wife, and one feels genuinely sorry for him in his hour of anxiety when mother lies ill upstairs and the doctors give him small comfort. It is almost unpardonable not to have mentioned Irene Dunne before this because she interprets Vinnie Day with charm, wit and an exactness that perfectly complement Mr. Powell's Father. The way she finally cajoles her rebellious husband into making the journey up to Audubon Park to submit to the baptismal rites which his parents had somehow overlooked is handled by Miss Dunne with great charm and feminine wile.The four Day boys—all redheads, naturally—are pleasingly played by Jimmy Lydon, the eldest, who has a crush on the visiting Mary Skinner; Martin Milner as John, the inventor; Johnny Calkins as Whitney, who would rather play baseball than study his catechism, and Derek Scott as little Harlan, who worries about meeting his un-baptized father in heaven. Elizabeth Taylor is very appealing as Mary Skinner, and other fine performances are contributed by Edmund Gwenn as the Rev. Dr. Lloyd; ZaSu Pitts as Cousin Cora and a string of maids too numerous to mention here."Life With Father" has been expertly staged by the resourceful Michael Curtiz, who has made certain that none of the essential comedy is overdrawn. The Warner Brothers can be proud of a job well done and the rest of us thankful that a classical slice of Americana has been preserved intact.

LIFE WITH FATHER, screen play by Donald Ogden Stewart adapted from the play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, based on the writings of the late Clarence Day Jr.; directed by Michael curtiz; produced by Robert Buckner for Warner Brothers. At the Warner Theatre.Father . . . . . William PowellVinnie . . . . . Irene DunneMary . . . . . Elizabeth TaylorRev. Dr. Lloyd . . . . . Edmund GwennCora . . . . . ZaSu PittsClarence . . . . . Jimmy LydonMargaret . . . . . Emma DunnDr. Humphries . . . . . Moroni OlsenMrs. Whitehead . . . . . Elizabeth RisdonHarian . . . . . Derek ScottWhitney . . . . . Johnny CalkinsJohn . . . . . Martin MilnerAnnie . . . . . Heather WildeThe Policeman . . . . . Monte BlueNora . . . . . Mary FieldMaggie . . . . . Queenie LeonardDelia . . . . . Nancy EvansMiss Wiggins . . . . . Clara BlandickDr. Somers . . . . . Frank Elliott

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, like father.

Now streaming on:

Writer/director Lauren Miller Rogen crafts stories about women who have everything, or think they do, just so she can take it all away from them in the first ten minutes of the movie and see what happens. 

Rogen co-wrote “For a Good Time Call…,” in which she also starred as a determined, organized, young woman who thinks she has everything figured out until she gets dumped by her fiancé. “Like Father” has a similar premise, only more publicly humiliating, with Rachel ( Kristen Bell ) getting dumped in the middle of the wedding ceremony.

We first see Rachel in close-up, giving detailed instructions over her cell phone about an upcoming meeting. And then the camera pulls back, revealing that she is in her wedding dress. The processional music is about to begin, so she shoves the phone into her bouquet and starts down the aisle. 

The officiant is her boss, and he speaks as warmly about her as he can, given that he has apparently been called on because she has no life outside of work. He shares some personal details about the groom, and then turns to Rachel. “If there is such a thing as a brand emergency, she would be an EMT.”

Then her phone drops out of the bouquet. The groom realizes that she will never really get away from her job and he calls off the wedding.

And then it gets worse. Harry ( Kelsey Grammer ), the estranged father Rachel has not seen since she was five years old, is at the wedding and saw it all. She races out and he races after her. They end up getting drunk together, and then they wake up on the cruise ship that was supposed to be her honeymoon trip.

This provides an opportunity for (1) product placement for the luxury cruise line, so pervasive the movie is almost an infomercial, (2) the expected developments: accusations, apologies, exchanging of confidences, grudging respect, growing warmth, tears, laughter, reconciliation, and a musical number, and (3) some realignment of work/life balance. 

In other words, this is a safe, sometimes synthetic story of two people in pretty settings finding a way to overcome their history and connect to one another, the beats all scheduled as conventionally as in the interchangeable comfort food movies on the Hallmark Channel.  

There are traces here of a more ambitious, less predictable film. I’m guessing that in some earlier version we saw more of Rachel’s client, a couple who are “hippie potato chip makers from upstate.” They seem to be from some draft of the story intended to make a point about abandoning the rat race for a more fulfilling life. And Harry and Rachel bond suspiciously abruptly with the three cute couples assigned to their dinner table on the cruise: one young, one old-timers, and one mid-life newlyweds. All are worth more screen time and should have had more substantial roles instead of too many scenes of the cruise ship’s cheesy entertainment.

A bright spot is Seth Rogen in one of his most low-key and appealing roles, probably because the director is his wife (he appeared briefly in “For a Good Time, Call…” as well). Miller deserves credit for giving his character some disheveled charm without making him into an easy happily-ever-after ending for Rachel.

Bell and Grammer are consummate pros. They cannot make this material surprising, believable, or even particularly moving, but they do their considerable best to hold our attention and are always watchable. Their scenes together are high points, even when the big speeches are thinly conceived. If the discussions about whether Rachel really needs to be on her phone at a gorgeous secluded waterfall and whether Harry has really confessed everything Rachel should know get tedious, the evident enjoyment that Bell and Grammer have in being together, especially in their silly karaoke number, make us happy to come sail away with them for a little while.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

Now playing

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Tomris laffly.

Under the Bridge

Cristina escobar.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Glenn kenny.

A Man in Full

Rendy jones.

Disappear Completely

Brian tallerico.

Film Credits

Like Father (2018)

Kristen Bell as Rachel

Kelsey Grammer as Harry

Seth Rogen as Jeff

Zach Appelman as Steve

Paul W. Downs as Jim

Brittany Ross as Amy

Lenny Jacobson as Jimmy Deere

Danielle Davenport as Vanessa

• Lauren Miller Rogen

Writer (story by)

• Anders Bard

Cinematographer

• Seamus Tierney
• Mollie Goldstein
• Roger Neill

Latest blog posts

The 10 Most Anticipated Films of Cannes 2024

The Importance of Connections in Ryusuke Hamaguchi Films

Saving Film History One Frame at a Time: A Preview of Restored & Rediscovered Series at the Jacob Burns Film Center

The Beatles Were Never More Human Than in ‘Let It Be’

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Movie Review: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ finds a new hero and will blow your mind

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Noa, played by Owen Teague, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Proximus Caesar, played by Kevin Durand, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Raka, played by Peter Macon, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Soona, played by Lydia Peckham, left and Noa, played by Owen Teague, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Noa, played by Owen Teague, from left, Freya Allan as Nova, and Raka, played by Peter Macon, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Freya Allan in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

• Copy Link copied

Fans of the “Planet of the Apes” franchise may still be mourning the 2017 death of Caesar, the first smart chimp and the charismatic ape leader. Not to worry: He haunts the next episode, the thrilling, visually stunning “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

We actually start with Caesar’s funeral, his body decorated with flowers and then set alight like a Viking, before fast-forwarding “many generations later.” All apes talk now and most humans don’t, reduced to caveman loin cloths and running wide-eyed and scared, evolution in reverse.

Our new hero is the young ape Noa (Owen Teague ) who is like all young adult chimps — seeking his father’s approval (even chimp dads just don’t understand) and testing his bravery. He is part of a clan that raises pet eagles, smokes fish and lives peacefully.

That all changes when his village is attacked not by humans but by fellow apes — masked soldiers from a nasty kingdom led by the crown-wearing Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand, playing it to the hilt). He has taken Caesar’s name but twisted his words to become a tyrannical strongman — sorry, strongape.

Unlike the last movie which dealt with man’s inhumanity to animals — concentration camps included — ape-on-ape violence is in the cards for this one, including capturing an entire clan as prisoners. Proximus Caesar’s goons use makeshift cattle prods on fellow apes and force them to work while declaring “For Caesar!”

Screenwriter Josh Friedman has cleverly created a movie that examines how ancient stories can be hijacked and manipulated, like how Caesar’s non-violent message gets twisted by bad actors. There’s also a lot of “Avatar” primitive naivete, and that makes sense since the reboot was shaped by several of that blue alien movie’s makers.

The movie poses some uncomfortable questions about collaborationists. William H. Macy plays a human who has become a sort of teacher-prisoner to Proximus Caesar — reading Kurt Vonnegut to him — and won’t fight back. “It is already their world,” he rationalizes.

Along for the heroic ride is a human young woman (Freya Allan, a budding star) who is hiding an agenda but offers Noa help along the way. Peter Macon plays a kindly, book-loving orangutan who adds a jolt of gleeful electricity to the movie and is missed when he goes.

The effects are just jaw-dropping, from the ability to see individual hairs on the back of a monkey to the way leaves fall and the crack of tree limbs echoing in the forest. The sight of apes on horseback, which seemed glitchy just seven years ago, are now seamless. There are also inside jokes, like the use of the name Nova again this time.

Director Wes Ball nicely handles all the thrilling sequences — though the two-and-a-half hour runtime is somewhat taxing — and some really cool ones, like the sight of apes on horseback on a beach, a nod to the original 1968 movie. And like when the apes look through some old illustrated kids’ books and see themselves depicted in zoo cages. That makes for some awkward human-ape interaction. “What is next for apes? Should we go back to silence?” our hero asks.

The movie races to a complex face-off between good and bad apes and good and bad humans outside a hulking silo that holds promise to each group. Can apes and humans live in peace, as Caesar hoped? “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” doesn’t answer that but it does open up plenty more to ponder. Starting with the potentially crippling proposition of a key death, this franchise has somehow found new vibrancy.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” a 20th Century Studios release that is exclusively in theaters May 10, is rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action.” Running time: 145 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Online: https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

A dying father looks for the perfect family to adopt his son in 'nowhere special'.

Bob Mondello

Daniel Lamont, left, and James Norton in Nowhere Special. Peter Marley/Cohen Media Group hide caption

Daniel Lamont, left, and James Norton in Nowhere Special.

British actor James Norton stars in the BBC police procedural series Happy Valley . And he's also on many a shortlist to be the next James Bond. But his new father-son film, Nowhere Special , finds him in a gentler, more vulnerable place.

He plays John, a window washer in Belfast, who goes about his trade so unobtrusively that you'd never notice him if the camera weren't turned his way.

John has just a few months to live, a fact made doubly challenging because he has a 4-year-old son, Michael.

Michael's mother abandoned them shortly after he was born, and with no other family members, John now has the task, in tandem with a social services agency, of finding his child a new family ... and he's full of doubts.

"I always thought that I knew him," John confesses haltingly to a sympathetic social worker. "I mean, I do, I do. You know, he's my son. But do I know him, really know him, you know, enough for this?"

The social services team has lists of folks who are eager to adopt — a postman and his wife who've adopted before, a chilly, entirely transactional household that feels wholly wrong, a wealthy couple who could offer Michael things John couldn't and others. A social worker accompanies John as he and Michael visit them on weekends. All while James Norton's quietly devastated John is trying to figure out what he can possibly say to Michael as every moment grows more precious.

"Would you like to live somewhere else?" John asks Michael as they stand on a highway overpass, watching cars zoom off to points unknown. "A different town? A different home?"

Michael considers for a moment, then looks up at his father and says, "I like home."

Played by a doe-eyed Daniel Lamont, Michael seems to sense that something's amiss, and heartbreakingly, his instinct is always to reassure and comfort — using his own blanket to cover daddy when he's resting on the couch ... and turning pages at storytime.

Writer/director Uberto Pasolini lets this play out without grandstanding or melodrama. The filmmaker doesn't embellish. We don't even hear what illness afflicts John. We just see things through his eyes — a window-washer's eyes. He's used to catching glimpses through the glass of worlds he'll never enter. But to have his son's future be like that? The ache is enormous, even as he finds the words Michael needs ... and a safe harbor ... just as the window for decision-making starts to close.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Back to Black

The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

• Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Matt Greenhalgh
• Marisa Abela
• Eddie Marsan
• Jack O'Connell
• 73 User reviews
• 76 Critic reviews
• 49 Metascore

• Nick Shymansky

• Perfume Paul
• Great Auntie Renee

• Uncle Harold
• Auntie Melody

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

The Big List of Summer Movies

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Marisa Abela had done most of the singing in this film herself. She trained extensively to mimic Amy Winehouse 's vocals.

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 2 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Press Herald

Account Subscription: ACTIVE

Questions about your account? Our customer service team can be reached at [email protected] during business hours at (207) 791-6000 .

• Arts & Entertainment

Stay in the know about shows with Music Network of Maine on Facebook

The page is constantly being updated with posts about performances across the state.

You are able to gift 5 more articles this month.

Anyone can access the link you share with no account required. Learn more .

With a Press Herald subscription, you can gift 5 articles each month.

It looks like you do not have any active subscriptions. To get one, go to the subscriptions page .

Loading....

A recent post on the Music Network of Maine Facebook page by singer-songwriter Anni Clark about an upcoming show.

Maine music fan and guitarist John Perry started the Music Network of Maine Facebook page about a decade ago. It’s described as a place for videos, photos and events involving Maine musicians and shows in the state.

On any given day, you can see anywhere from a handful to dozens of posts about upcoming performances by musicians and bands happening at venues all over the state.

Singer-songwriter Anni Clark is an active contributor, and her most recent post shared info about a May 9 show in Westbrook. Another recent post had details about a Fleetwood Mac tribute show scheduled for May 18 in Bath.

Account: Music Network of Maine

Platform: Facebook

Followers: 12,700

Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.

Enter your email and password to access comments.

Forgot Password?

Don't have a commenting profile? Create one.

Hi, to comment on stories you must create a commenting profile . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login. Already have a commenting profile? Login .

Invalid username/password.

Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.

Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate.

Already registered? Log in to join the discussion.

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why .

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

Send questions/comments to the editors.

Member Log In

Please enter your username and password below. Already a subscriber but don't have one? Click here .

Not a subscriber? Click here to see your options