From the standpoint of being able to take a Good book and turning it into a piece of rubbish? This then was a masterpiece. I had no problem with the casting of this film. Actually I thought the actors did a good job all things considered. However, Daryl Hannah as Ayla ...was for me a total wash out, this part required a stronger acting presence and in my opinion called for an actor of great ability. The visuals of the film were magnificent, and the Photography sometimes bordered on genius. But why is it that screen writers think that they have to "fix" a perfectly good story, by taking the same time it would take to tell the "actual" story and instead telling a silly disjointed and inaccurate one? One where none of the characters really develop nor become loved by the audience. Oh yes, I know that screen writers must compress events and so on. But this screenplay of Mr. John Sayles, was one of the worst examples I have ever seen. Not only was the "time line" of the story tragically out of whack, but when Ayla broke Brouds spear with her sling at the "shootout at the O.K. Coral" scene at the End of the film... Anyone who read the book would be able to tell you that had that actually happened, based on what we knew from the characters and the clan in this wonderful book, she would have been killed by the clan immediately. That would have been a travesty of enormous proportion for them. The real heart of the actual story, was the relationships between Ayla, Iza,Creb and Brun, and her interpersonal growth as a being, was almost completely missed in this film and the development of the characters whom you loved in the book was no where in sight. Basically the film characters. by virtue of really bad screen writing became a bunch of cardboard cut outs without connection one to the other. It was a mish mash of people running in and out of scenes. Jean M. Auel could not have been happy with this mess. I hope she was paid enough. If any of you fellow viewers have seen any of her comments on this film, I would appreciate you E-mailing them along to me. I would happily give her and her book at least a 9. but this movie was a mess and it's present IMDb rating of 4.9 is about 2.9 points to high. If you have read the book and wish to suffer....see this film. That is this viewers opinion.
Review of The Clan of the Cave Bear
