These ads for Mego’s Planet of the Apes action figures and play sets are wonderful. They’re paced like little Éric Rohmer films, but more than that, they both end on a down note, with the human character either dropping to his knees in despair, or being lowered into a prison from which “he’ll never escape.”
So enjoy, and know that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will probably be less existentially troubling than these commercials for children’s play things (though not for a lack of trying).