Planet of the Apes (1968 film) was well received by critics and audiences, launching a film franchise, including four sequels, as well as a short-lived television show, animated series, comic books, and various merchandising. In particular, Roddy McDowall had a long-running relationship with the "Apes" series, appearing in four of the original five films (absent, apart from a brief voiceover, from the second film of the series, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", in which he was replaced by David Watson in the role of Cornelius), and also in the television series. The original series was followed by Tim Burton's remake "Planet of the Apes" in
Escape from the Planet of the Apes with much ingenuity and promise ... the film is painfully sentimental in its attitude to the chimps, with Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall overplaying and vulgarising their former roles to the point where it's hard to feel much concern about their final destruction." Escape from the Planet of the Apes Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a 1971 science fiction film directed by Don Taylor and written by Paul Dehn. It stars Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman and Ricardo Montalbán. It is the third of five films in the original "Planet of the Apes" series produced by