Walking With Cavemen
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Movie Reviews of Walking With Cavemen
Movie Review: The BBC has done better
Summary: 2 Stars
Over the duration of the 'walking with' series, I've really come to question what validity it has. I know that there is probably some merit in seeing recreations of what the earth's past may have been like, but all too often the actual educational value seems to get lost amidst the need to tell little stories about the animals in question. This started with Walking with Dinosaurs and I didn't find it too annoying there, but there were plenty of times it didn't work. Instead of documentary, it had turned dino-drama. Now I can really enjoy the concept of a dino-drama, but trying to do that and be educational and do both well is a pretty tall order. One might also wonder why they felt the need to tell a story with every episode but that becomes clear once you realize how expensive it must have been to make their characters. It simply wouldn't be economical to show a creature for 30 seconds that you spent a load of money designing the cgi models for, puppets, etc.And now we come to Walking with Cavemen. For some reason, the creators of the film still feel obligated to stick to prehistoric drama (and by now the novelty has more than worn off), while the quite educational 'making of' disc has been dropped entirely.
Looking back on the whole series, one must accept that it's a sort of magic trick, all smoke and mirrors--but innitially, it works. The problem is, by 'Cavemen' we can cleary see the man behind the curtain and the thing falls flat on its face. The stories are, to be blunt, stupid. The best acting in the world can't keep the costumes from looking rediculous, nor make the story convincing. Ultimately, it's a bunch of people paid to run around in furry suits or naked (as in the later episodes) pretending to be pre-humans. It worked in Kubrick's 2001, I don't know why it doesn't work here.
With all that said, I would have enjoyed a good BBC special on human evolution. The efforts of the team that made this series, the actors, etc. are very much appreciated, but I feel that while this may hook some of the kids, it does so at a great sacrifice. Teaching science is ultimately about getting students to open their mind and question the world around them--that means that when we make assertions in a science program like Homo erectus not having a spiritual life, we actually provide some evidence. Demonstrating the process of inquiry and deduction is more important than the costumes, more important than flashy cgi or creative cut-scenes. It is the core of what a good education program should be about. Instead, we have the creative presentation of content. Just content. Not science.
If you follow that line of reasoning you might come to see why I've given this 2 stars. This is a talented team working for the leaders in quality science programs. I think they can do a lot better.
Movie Review: Not as real as it gets anymore
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me just say I love Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts. Those two are such absolute masterpeices. After over a year of waiting I finally got a nother walking with. Boy is this a disapointment. First of all we did not need a movie about human evolution. The discovery channel has already done several specials on human evolution. Also Walking with Prehistoric Beasts also did a section on human evolution. But grading this by itself it was low in quality and includes nothing we haven't seen before. My biggest problem was the costumes. The apemen in Walking with Prehistoric Beasts were computer animated and have movement that was not quite ape or man it looked inbetween and perfect. The men in monkey suits hear move fully human and completly unrealistic. The neandertals didn't look right either. There noses were to small. Neandertals had bigger noses then that. As for action there is very little. The first three Walking withs had plenty of action. In this we get two short action sequences in its two hour length. I hope the next Walking with will be a CGI filled and action packed like the rest. I think it should be before the dinosaurs. That will be something never done before. Unlike this.Movie Review: The Neanderthal of this Excellent Series
Summary: 2 Stars
We got this while still buzzed from Walking With the Dinosaurs. The buzz ended quickly. The actors playing the cave people look just like that--modern day actors playing cave people. I can just see the director saying,"Blake, you're hungry! You're tired! You just killed the mammoth and must carry meat back to your mate! Makeup--he needs more grime!". It's bearable the first time you watch it, but then you spend the next time through hoping that some big predator will leap into the scene and crunch them all so you don't have to watch it again. Our resident dinosaur expert watched it once, took it back to the library and never wanted to get it again (thank you, thank you!). Having now watched Walking With the Dinosaurs at least sixty times, I can definitely tell you to save your pennies & get a different DVD.Movie Review: Where's the realism
Summary: 2 Stars
What made the "Walking With..." series worth seeing was the creation of photo-like moving pictures of prehistoric animals as they may of been. "Walking With Cavemen" falls far short of this. Modern humans have bigger heads and higher foreheads than early Hominids. Putting actors in monkey suits results in unbeleivable pictures of early ape-men with big heads and high foreheads. This series has always tended to spoil the images with cheap melodrama, and this one even more so. In real biology the herbivores have to greatly outnumber the carnivores. In the "Walking With..." movies they always seem to have a world where its the other way round.
Give us more beautiful images, and less violence.
Movie Review: Walking with Cavemen
Summary: 1 Stars
This documentary is totally inappropraite for children and should not be advertised as a part of the "Walking with..." series. Unlike "Dinosaurs" and "Prehistoric Beasts", this addresses issues and depicts situations which can not correctly be understood by children. Adult viewers:4 stars; Children: 1 star.