History YMMV / PlanetOfTheApes2001

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The opening cinematic is incredibly well detailed. Averted with the in-game graphics.

** Ari's more humanoid design (she even has eyebrows!), presumably in an attempt to make her appear friendlier or even 'sexy' for the audience. Instead it garnered her comparisons to Music/MichaelJackson.

* NeverLiveItDown: The twist ending, namely for the sheer absurdity behind it.

* SignatureLine: "Take your stinking hands off me, you damn dirty human!"
* SignatureScene: The twist ending.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Despite being the BigBad and a crooked opportunist respectively, Thade and Limbo are usually considered the most enjoyable characters in the whole movie.

* CompleteMonster (PC[=/=]UsefulNotes/PlayStation version): [[ANaziByAnyOtherName General Ursus]] is the leader of the gorillas and one of the members of the Ape High Council. Seeing gorillas as [[MasterRace superior to other apes]], Ursus discovered that Professor Cornelius managed to find a way to use human DNA to improve the ape genetic code. Forcing Professor Cornelius to work for him and continue his [[PlayingWithSyringes experiments]] on captured humans, Ursus planned to "enhance" the gorillas and create an unbeatable army, which he intended to use it to [[KillAllHumans completely wipe out humanity]] and take over the ape society, while slaughtering any ape who would resist his rule. When [[PlayerCharacter Ulysses]] humiliated him and stole the results of Cornelius's research, Ursus ordered his gorillas to attack a human village and wipe out most of the humans there.

* FridgeLogic:
** Nothing explains how the horses came to the planet in the 2001 remake.
** Or, for that matter, how the ape population grew as large as it did when there are relatively few apes [[spoiler: on Leo's ship.]] However, it's implied [[spoiler:from the ship's log that the surviving scientists used genetic manipulation to make the apes what they became in the film. It's possible they increased the breeding process as well]].
** Even that wouldn't account for the presence of gorillas and orangutans, which are substantially larger than chimps and thus, a ''very'' poor choice for [[spoiler: a space mission where food, water, oxygen and living space are all at a premium. Not to mention that sending apes to space is already {{Zeerust}}, as [=NASA=] quit using non-human primates as soon as they were sure it was feasible to bring ''humans'' back safely.]]

* AssPull: The ending where [[spoiler:Lincoln's Memorial is one of Thade, and apes rule the Earth in the present day.]] Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter has said she pointed out to Creator/TimBurton that the ending made no sense after reading the script, to which he grinned and said, [[IntendedAudienceReaction "I know, isn't it great?"]] Although impressively, Carter herself was later able to come up with an explanation that actually makes sense.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The infamous twist ending was inspired by [[Literature/PlanetOfTheApes the original novel by Pierre Boulle]], where [[spoiler:Ulysse escapes from Soror (the literal eponymous planet) and returns to the Earth, but during the time which passed, Earth was taken over by apes as well.]]

* VindicatedByHistory: Downplayed, but with the [[Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes the]] [[Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes Caesar]] [[Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes trilogy]] having brought balance in the franchise, some fans have looked back to this film more kindly, with an appreciation for its effort to do something genuinely different and in Burton's own style rather than simply copy and paste the original, even if some of the writing choices such as the ending are still very divisive.