My first encounter with Planet of the Apes was through an artistic, black-and-white comic adaptation. As a child, I loved it. Later, I read Pierre Boulle's original novel, and I thought that was fantastic, too. With that background, I was seriously disappointed with the 'classic' film. (To be fair, though, the later cinematic renditions weren't any better, either.)
I understand some of the filmmakers' decisions, like changing the ape society into a less advanced one, as the novel was practically unfilmable with the then available technology, but the oversimplification extended to the story and the characters, as well, and because of that little remained of the spirit of the book. The design and makeup of the gorillas are cool, Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter give fine performances, and the last scene (being a clever twist on the book's ending) is very effective and memorable, but overall the film feels cheap and shallow, at least compared with the book. It could have been much much better.
For me, the third movie in the franchise, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, proved to be the most enjoyable. By basically turning the original story inside out while remaining faithful to both the plot and the spirit of Boulle's excellent novel, that is the one that got closest to the mark.
I understand some of the filmmakers' decisions, like changing the ape society into a less advanced one, as the novel was practically unfilmable with the then available technology, but the oversimplification extended to the story and the characters, as well, and because of that little remained of the spirit of the book. The design and makeup of the gorillas are cool, Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter give fine performances, and the last scene (being a clever twist on the book's ending) is very effective and memorable, but overall the film feels cheap and shallow, at least compared with the book. It could have been much much better.
For me, the third movie in the franchise, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, proved to be the most enjoyable. By basically turning the original story inside out while remaining faithful to both the plot and the spirit of Boulle's excellent novel, that is the one that got closest to the mark.