The movie was very much a departure from the other two planet of the apes movies. Instead of going for the sci-fi build -up to the "Ah-haa" ending the movie is a slow paced character development from birth to the outbreak of violence of Caesar who leads the outbreak.

Set in a Tolstoy-esque world the rambling uneven narrative focus' on the the smallest details of the three main characters lives. Kaufman leaves each character as an enigma instead of developing them the audience is left to guess at there back story through the furtherance of the plot. I enjoyed the excess nudity it is a player in the film but never reaches the point of soft core pron (sic).
The action of the story makes the 3+ hours float by, but it never reach's a level of being totally engrossing. The break between disc 1 and 2 is very natural and watching disc 1 makes disc 2 a cliff-hanger of sorts.

As funny or funnier as the first, however the the similarity in plot really dims down the "Shock and awe" value of the content. Cooper Helms and Galifiankis are the pivotal characters where Justin Bartha is the guy who stayed back at the hotel who talks to them on via cell phones. Galifiankis seems tacked on to the plot and his scenes are so disjoint to the plot its just off. If you really liked or loved the first you will like this also.