“Beneath The Planet of the Apes” is a disappointing sequel to the original sci-fi classic. It’s not really a terrible film but it is instead just unremarkable. Very little new ground is covered in this one and what little there is, feels very underdeveloped.

After the events of the first film, George Taylor (Charlton Heston “The Omega Man”, “El Cid”) goes missing. Another astronaut by the name of Brent (James Franciscus) has been sent into the future to rescue Taylor. Like his predecessor, he too encounters the vicious apes that rule this world but he also encounters a new form of life.

Charlton Heston apparently did not want to do a sequel and it shows because he gets given a very small role so this forces us to spend a lot of time with James Franciscus’ Brent. The Brent character just feels like a poor stand-in for Taylor. Some of the other cast members such as Kim Hunter (“A Streetcar Named Desire”) return. I think the ape costumes look slightly worse this time around. The other group of beings are probably the most interesting addition to the series but they are not in it for long so we don’t really get to understand them very well.

Sequels are hard to do and while I have seen far worse, “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” is certainly a bland follow-up. The first film has some really terrific ideas and plenty of exciting moments while “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” hints at a few intriguing concepts and features a few dud action scenes. I won’t spoil it but the ending of the film was devised to stop there from being any more sequels yet I imagine the filmmakers were probably kicking themselves when the third movie was announced. If you love the first movie, you are likely to find this a forgettable sequel.