ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (G)

While I was out one night recently, husband D and son K watched Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971), which is the third in the series of Planet of the Apes films.

Although K told me it was “really good,” it was D who told me it was perhaps even great, and that K really enjoyed it. Since I didn’t see it, and getting anything more out of either of them is like getting the younger one to ... say, clean his room -- ahem -- here’s the Netflix descriptor:

In this third installment of the Planet of the Apes series, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), Zira (Kim Hunter) and Milo (Sal Mineo) travel back in time to escape the destruction of their world. Landing in 20th century Los Angeles, they're treated as curiosities and celebrities at first, but soon become hunted by a suspicious and fearful government intent on making them the subjects of an experiment that could alter the course of human and ape events.

I’ve already given the thumbs up to the first two films (Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes), but adding a third one to the “recommended” list feels very satisfying.

Now that you know you’ve got three here that work with kids in the 10-year-old range, you can plan a series of movie watching nights.  How cool will your kids be, growing up knowing about these classic films of the ‘60s and ‘70s?

(By the way, these are all officially rated G, but you know that these days that equates a PG rating, right?)