Will Oscar go ape for Andy Serkis?

Andy Serkis has long been considered the Laurence Olivier of motion-capture animation. But could his latest performance finally earn him an Academy Award?

In late 2002, New Line Cinema launched an unlikely Oscar campaign for the British actor's portrayal of the hissing, slithery Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." Gollum was created using motion-capture animation, then a fairly new process, in which an actor dotted with sensors becomes the blueprint for a computer-generated creation. Surprisingly, the usually conservative academy ruled that Serkis was indeed eligible for a supporting actor Oscar.

It became a moot point -- Serkis wasn't nominated -- but it might have laid some groundwork for his latest role, as the chimpanzee Caesar in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

Motion-capture has come a long way since 2002, thanks partly to Weta Digital, the company that helped create the blue-skinned tribesmen in "Avatar" and the simians in "Rise." Caesar is so lifelike -- mottled skin, creased fingers, brown-green eyes -- that he makes Gollum look like a simplistic cartoon. But the chimp's personality, his soul, come from Serkis. Caesar's face registers an astounding range of emotions; his body-language changes as he grows from frisky child into bitter adult. And Serkis communicates it all without words.

Because Caesar is the hero of "Rise," logging far more screen time than co-star James Franco, Serkis would seem to merit a full-fledged best actor nomination. That's highly unlikely, of course. But if you've seen the film, you might be hard-pressed to think of a better performance this year.