Considering the usual fate of sequels, it's not so much that this final effort [from a story by Paul Dehn] is limp, but that the previous four pix maintained for so long a good quality level.

[It] seems reluctant to use the potentials for astute comic strip philosophy that all the other films revelled in to a greater or lesser extent.

Battle looks like the last gap of a dying series, a movie made simply to wring the dollars out of any remaining ape fans.

The problem here is basically one of script, though the lowering of production values has taken its toll.