The Clan of the Cave Bear

Rating:
Summary: For one who hasn't read the book, astonishing.
Review: For the viewer who hasn't read the corresponding books, and I must speak from this perspective only because that is my condition, this movie is quite amazing. "Clan of the Cave Bear" is an excellent, touching movie that uniquely communicates through the establishment of a cast that is made up of neanderthals. It's beautiful and unusual and acted with extraordinary tenderness and perception; what a challenge it must have been to act out a story about cavepeople. After seeing this, it's reasonable to believe that this may just have been what life was like among prehistoric humans. I found this movie to be well, well worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book, disappointing film
Review: How can I count the ways that this movie is disappointing? First off - the main character in the book starts off as five years old and at the end of the book is about 14...Daryl Hannah is beautiful but way way too old to play the part of Ayla. That is the most obvious to me. When this movie came out I was excited because this is one of my favorite books of all time, but I was bitterly disappointed...The book is so wonderful that it deserves a much better film representation than this one. I heard that Jean Auel (the author) got the movie rights back, so maybe someday we will see a better effort on this story and the other books in the series. Personally, I think that this is a story that would be better animated, especially with the Pixar process...I thought of that when I watched "A Bug's Life" with my nephew.

Rating:
Summary: Did not care for it
Review: I did not think the movie did justice to the book. The movie omited and changed very important things like the birth of Durc and how she was sentenced to the final death curse. Those things were the basis for feelings in the following books. If they wanted to move to the next book, it could only be worse, because of the lack of attention given to vital parts of the movie. Granted, they cannot include every detail, and naming each plant would have taken up too much time, but I think it could have been done with a little more care for the story line. If I hadn't already read the book, I would not have been interested in reading it after the movie.

Rating:
Summary: It wasn't a bad movie
Review: I didn't think this movie was bad. How much can you do with people who don't speak. It tried to stay as close to the book as it could. Of course it wasn't as good as the book but what movie is. But it is a good movie the first time you watch it. I wish someone would make a movie about the rest of the books in this series.

Rating:
Summary: I should have rented it
Review: I had seen the movie in stores and passed it by, even though I really like Daryl Hannah. Then, a week ago I began reading the book after my mom found it in a thrift store. I absolutely loved it! It has to be my all time favorite book ever, and I get bored easily with some books, especially ones that have to do with the cave man era. (I will admit that the first 20-30 pages of the book I was wondering what was going on with the clan, but I hung in there and it was WELL worth it!)
I bought the DVD yesterday, extremely excited to see the movie.
Boy, I got lost in some of the parts and I had just finished the book! I really thought the Harry Potter book to movie adaptions were bad and then I saw this. Bleck! I realize a lot of details needed to be left out (it is, after all a 500 page book) but some of the most important ones that showed the emotions and less evolved thinking of the clan that was very important shouldn't have been! One thing I noticed was that the movie spared no time in the 'rape' scenes of Daryl Hannah. C'mon, don't you think there were more important things you could have concentrated on? It wasn't even 10% of the book, but it made up for 30% of the movie. And important parts of the movie such as Ayla's first period, or even the birth of her child were all together forgotten or molested. I didn't like the movie at all- I wish they would do a mini-series or "The Stand" type movie where its 6 hours long. Who cares? Enough people love the book that they would buy it and find the time to watch it, I know I would. After watching this movie, I definatly think it is worth a do-over. And, for people who loved the movie, I'm glad for you. I just don't think it did the book justice. My boyfriend even said that if the book was anything like the movie he wasn't reading it all..How many other people had that same opinion after seeing this wretched 'masterpiece'.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: I have read all of the books based on Ayla and loved them all, have read them many many times. There is no possible way that you could take the book and make it into a movie without leaving out a lot of details. I feel they did a wonderful job with the movie and I have watched it many times. To be more true and accurate to the book you would have to make a Mini-series and I for one would love to see that!!! It would make for a much more interesting night of television than most of the junk that they have on now. Daryl Hannah was an excellent Ayla but the entire cast had their work cut out for them but I was also very impressed with James Remar as Creb, wow did he bring Creb to life. For those that nit picked this movie apart then I suggest that you don't watch it again, for myself I will watch it again and again. Would really like to see a sequel!!

Rating:
Summary: fantastic book, horrendous movie
Review: I just finished reading the book so I decided to watch the movie. I wish I had not. This may be the worst adaptation of a book I have ever seen. For one thing, the neanderthals are barely different in appearance from the human character Ayla. At one point, one of them mentions how ugly Ayla is and for all intents and purposes, the neanderthals and Ayla look pretty much the same. If you haven't read the book you must wonder what they are talking about and so on and so on. There are so many distortions, gaps, misrepresentations, that if you've never read the book, the movie won't make any sense, and if you've read the book, you'll be so disappointed at what a mess it is. You can't win either way. I recommend you read the book and never watch this movie. And if you've already read the book then I strongly recommend that you don't watch the movie as well. It is amazing how bad this movie is. I hope that now that CGI makes mammoths and cave lions, and cave bears and neanderthals possible. And now that more faithful, longer, more faithful representations of epics such as Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter are commonplace, that this book is adapted to film again, but the right way. This version is truly pathetic. Shame on everyone involved in making this.

Rating:
Summary: I Liked It
Review: I just finished reading the reviews of Clan of the Cave Bear, and for the life of me, I can't understand why everyone despises this movie. I liked it. I happened to catch it a few years ago on some cable channel, and it fascinated me enough to go out to try and find the book upon which it was based. Imagine my delight to see that Ms. Auel had written even MORE books about Ayla! I now own all 5 books (and what a great day it was when The Shelters of Stone was finally released!) and the movie. I can't wait till the final book she is working on is finished. If it had not been for the movie, though, I would never have known of Ms. Auel's wonderful books, and it saddens me that she reportedly did not like the movie at all. Granted, they did not have all the special effects when this was made that they have now, but overall, I believe it was a sincere effort.

Rating:
Summary: More movies like this starring Daryll Hannah!
Review: I like to see movies starring Daryll Hannah such as Earth's Children, Valley Of The Horses & Mammoth Hunters. She did
great in the first one why not the rest of the others? All you Daryll Hannah fans what do you say? are you with mw on this?

Rating:
Summary: A Prehistoric Reality Check!
Review: I love this movie! I show it every year in my world history class for educational purposes. It is the only example of a well-researched depiction of life during prehistory. Plus it has a wonderful dramatic story with a message my students find relevant to their lives today. The performances are excellent. This film is often under-rated... just like our prehistoric ancestors!