Enjoyed Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
I'm a huge PotA fan, and it surprised me how different the movie was. I knew it wouldn't be the same story, but it pretty much totally doesn't fit into the PotA universe, as far as storyline. That's okay, but it's not what I expected. I counted eight homages to the original series. A couple of them were iffy. The most obvious were a couple direct quotes and a few names (one which wasn't exactly the same.) Watched it twice, back-to-back, and picked the eighth up that the second time. I'll avoid spoilers, so I won't say much about it, but the ending was an interesting twist, however passe and unbelievably ironic--can't explain, though.
In what way doesnt it fit into the original universe? I saw the first two original movies, and it fit just fine with those IIRC. Now the other one where the apes actually rise up I dont think it probably matched perfect. They had to change to fit the times, we are more afraid of viruses and such these days.
First off, there was yet another movie
after the movie this one more or less completely rewrites. It would be fully orphaned by this story. Secondly, however, the first three in the series are also chronologically after it too.
In the original universe, most humans were wiped out by atomic war (assumption stated in the first, and heavily reinforced in the second), and pets were wiped out by a virus (stated in Conquest, AND Battle, if I recall correctly.) There are no pets in the original canon (with the possible exception of Escape, which would make sense, but I don't recall any), and the surviving humans are mutants. Surviving ape and humankind seem centered around New York in the original...Muir woods is pretty far from that. Clearly, in the original series, the talking apes came from the future, not from some science program.
They've rewritten the story. Again, that's fine, but it's not consistent with the original universe, for those who expected it to be.
FWIW, I'm still trying not to spoil it. Oh, and they didn't "have to change it to fit the times." There are still plenty of nuclear warheads to fully scorch the earth's surface, and politicians stupid enough to order them used.