It would take a huge leap of faith to believe that the future ape society of 3955 would have evolved from the baby chimp born to Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter), back in 1973, but that's the idea in this, the third film in the POTA franchise. After all, a lot could happen in two thousand years, and things don't always progress in a linear fashion, so I thought it pretty presumptuous to think that killing baby Milo and sterilizing its parents would set things right for the future of humankind. If one can get beyond all that, this was actually a fairly entertaining flick with a good dose of humor as the adult simians learned to adapt to the modern world they were sent back to. I thought killing off Dr. Milo (Sal Mineo) in the story was a bit hasty. He could have added some additional intelligence to the presidential committee investigating their arrival, but so it goes. I didn't think Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden) would turn out to be the villain of the piece, but then again, he did portray Nazi officer Hans Dietrich in the Sixties war series "Rat Patrol", and that evil streak returns here. Bradford Dillman and Natalie Trundy provide needed emotional support when the married apes from the future go on the run to protect themselves and their baby. Ricardo Montalban's cameo as circus owner Armando makes it possible for the franchise to live on when he takes in chimp baby Milo, who tugs at one's heartstrings in the closing moments of the film when he calls after his departed 'Mama, Mama'.
