As much as I prefer practical makeups over CG characters, the fact that these filmmakers wanted Caesar to look like a real chimpanzee made practical makeup virtually impossible because of the basic differences in human and chimpanzee anatomy, particularly cranial structure. That said, although I never once believed Caesar was a living, breathing chimpanzee, I thought the CGI was rather well done for the most part. As someone said on another forum, "It (CGI) still looks fake, it just looks fake in a way we're not used to yet." Like the Na'vi in Avatar, eventually your mind just accepts this is what these creatures look like (if the movie holds your interest, that is) and gets on with processing the events presented in the movie.
As for Rise, I liked it. I thought it was a plausible (given the premise) retelling of the story that was faithful to the intent of the original movies (of which I am a fan) without being completely derivative. Good performances throughout, though I think James Franco might have been miscast (I like Franco, but I didn't find his performance entirely believable). And Andy Serkis has become a master of the art of creating motion-capture characters; so much so that one website has begun a campaign of sorts to dub all motion-capture characters "Serkis-folk". I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel(s).
