The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)
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Cast
as Ayla
as Iza
as Creb
as Broud
as Brun
as Goov
as Young Girl
as Grod
as Young Girl
as Vorn
as Zoug
as Vorn
as Dorv
as Droog
as Crug
as Aba
as Uka
as Oga
as Ovra
as Uba
as Aga
as Ebra
as Ika
as Young Broud
as Durc
as Middle Ayla
as Young Ayla
as Brac
as Ayla's Mother
as Young Uba
as Young Vorn
as Baby Durc
as Baby Durc
as Gorn
as Young Girl
as Voord
as Young Boy
as Norg
as Brug
as Narrator
as the bear
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Critic Reviews for The Clan of the Cave Bear
All Critics (10) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (1) | Rotten (9) | DVD (1)
This is Reader's Digest prehistory, though at least director Chapman (cameraman on Raging Bull) makes sure the murky caves look nice.
The filmmakers made no effort to empathize with their prehistoric characters, to imagine what it might have really been like back then.
A goofy and ill-made movie that wants to be deadly serious and acts incredibly daft, and the average between these two points is of a joyless, dull nothing.
As the cave wall says, stay with the book.
Imagine a chick-flick "Quest for Fire" that makes no sense.
A catalogue of second-best decisions
Audience Reviews for The Clan of the Cave Bear
I've seen some bad reviews of this and even the author of the book, Jean M. Auel, on which the movie is based evidently didn't like it. I did like it though. The make-up work rivals that of The Planet of the Apes. I thought the minimal use of spoken dialogue and consistent primitive sign language was well done. The subtitles did not distract: they helped because the characters do not use a known language. I identified with the theme of Ayla having to walk alone in the end because she questioned the ways of the clan too much. Critic Roger Ebert says, "[The movie] never quite makes them seem frightened and ignorant and vulnerable and bewildered." In a way the clan is subject to nature and these qualities, especially Brun who's primary fault is the way in which he deals with the feelings that Ebert mentions by being close-minded and macho. But I don't think Ebert has a legitimate critique because most cultures won't show these traits because they think they have it all figured out. The series of books are all about how ancient peoples who lived in caves are not so primitive as we might assume. And so, their culture just like ours and every one in between has a certain pride in their own customs and norms that help them avoid those scary feelings. Ebert also sees the fact that "every one of these people has motives that are instantly recognizable and predictable" as a fault. He misses the point by coming to the movie with expectations that it would perhaps be more like One Million Years B.C.. I think the point of the story is that the books were bestsellers because they are about how human motives have always been the same.
Super Reviewer
What did I just watch? This is strange and I really wasn't that interested.
Super Reviewer
Slow and pointless. Lacks great elements like Quest for Fire, which had Ron Pearlman and tons of monkey people fights.
Super Reviewer
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