It's picking up the story, not a retelling, if that's what you mean by reboot. And yeah, I thought the same, but I think that was because the story wasn't plastered everywhere.
I recommend the older ones. I loved them as a kid. And actually I saw Mad Max after the other two and was OK with that. It's very different from the other two, but it's good because it does give a reason for why Max is the way he is in the other films.