Reviews of "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes",  the second installment in the rebooted "Planet of the Apes" movie franchise, are some of the best reviews of any big summer blockbusters to hit theaters this year.

The PG-13 movie stars  Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Judy Greer, Keri Russell, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Many movie critics are giving the film high praise for its story telling, as well as being a solid follow-up to the last "Planet of the Apes" movie, which had actor James Franco in one of the title roles. That movie, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," gave the decades old movie franchise about a future where humans are subservient to apes a reworking for a new audience.

Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips enjoyed the new film and said, "Whatever audiences think of it, I'd say the latest "Apes" picture is just that: a solid success, sharing many of its predecessor's swift, exciting storytelling and motion-capture technology virtues." The film takes place in a world that's seen humans fall victim to a deadly virus and apes rise as the power. 

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes", as critics have noted, is full of tension and atmosphere. "It's a satisfying movie and an example - a dispiritingly rare one these days - of what mainstream Hollywood filmmaking can still achieve," the New York Times reported.

The movie's action is praised by the Los Angeles Times, "One of "Dawn's" most impressive set pieces occurs early on, when an ape hunting party takes off against a herd of elk and also comes face to face with an exceptionally unhappy bear, resulting in some highly adrenalized fang-and-claw nature footage," the paper said. 

Of course, even though the movie was overwhelmingly popular with major media outlets, not everyone agreed this is the best big-budget action movie of the summer season.

"Watching an army of apes riding horses heading into battle is undeniably cool," wrote Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald. "But that's the only thing the movie gives you: Neat eye candy. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is written at a level so low, even 8- year-olds will find it lacking, and because another sequel is already in pre-production, there's not much suspense as to how this one is going to end."