Best movie I've seen all Summer. Don't call it a remake.
As a huge fan of the original Planet of the Apes franchise, I have been both eager and wary of this film. When I first saw the trailers, the wariness subsided; the effects looked outstanding and it appeared to be a fantastic treatment. I'm glad that they didn't lie. The effects for this film were outstanding, and never distracting, even though the CG apes were such a huge part of the entire film. It makes me wish they had waited to make I Am Legend until they could figure out how to do it right; that film would have been great without all of the cartoon vampire/zombies.
While this isn't a remake of the original Planet of the Apes, but a retelling of the incidents that led to said Planet ruled by Apes, it is closer to the story of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. I am glad to say that Rise is not a remake of either film, but an alternate story that does not retread the events of either; it provides an alternate, and more plausible story for how apes could one day overthrow us all.