'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' nicely handled by director Wyatt

As its title suggests, Rupert Wyatt's ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ is intended to lay the foundation for a new franchise of sci-fi flicks in which humans and super-intelligent apes battle for earthly supremacy.

Its duty, then, is to explain, within the span of two hours and with a modicum of credulity, how exactly our simian friends might come to supplant us atop the animal kingdom.