YMMV / The Clan of the Cave Bear

• Audience-Alienating Premise: Likely one of the biggest reasons the film bombed at the box office. While the novels are by no means obscure - they were in fact at the height of their popularity in the 1980s - they're difficult to translate into film due to the story's structure (most of them, The Clan of the Cave Bear included, are heavy on exposition and internal monologues, and they're largely character-driven with little goal-oriented plot). Inevitably, a lot of things would have to be altered to make the story fit into a two-hour film format. Another issue is that the first book especially is not exactly feel-good fare, with lots of unpleasant content such as graphic violence, discrimination, child abuse, sexual assault and a Downer Ending. The end result is that fans of the books were wary of the changes to the story while the average viewer may have been put off by the grimmer content.
• Awesome Music: When you have Alan Silvestri as composer, you can never go wrong. Here's the main theme. Similar to Silvestri's work on Flight of the Navigator that same year, the score in The Clan of the Cave Bear is rendered entirely on a New England Digital Synclavier synthesizer/workstation, while also bearing similarities to the composer's later work on Predator with its percussive, tribalistic feel.
• Critical Dissonance: A slight example. The film was eviscerated by critics and fans of the books weren't keen either, but over the decades some viewers have come to regard the film more warmly. While it's not seen as a particularly good film nor a good adaptation of the source material, some viewers have argued it's not completely terrible, pointing out it has some decent performances (especially considering there's little spoken dialogue), beautiful cinematography and a sweeping musical score.
• Funny Moments:
  • Creb having to have one of his rotten teeth pulled by Ayla and Iza. Iza prepares to pull the tooth out while Ayla comforts him, saying that nothing scares the great Mog-ur. As soon as Creb is shown the tooth, he promptly faints onto Ayla's lap.
  • When Broud attempts to force Ayla to mate with him again shortly after she discovers she's pregnant. While he struggles to get aroused enough to penetrate, Ayla merely has an "oh well, sucks to be you" kind of expression while trying to contain her laughter. Broud promptly throws a tantrum, pushes Ayla to the side and leaves, while one of the women demonstrates the loss of an erection with a stick.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Broud's sexual violence towards Ayla and attempts to control her for refusing to submit to him becomes even more disturbing in light of Daryl Hannah’s revelation that Harvey Weinstein repeatedly sexually harassed her, and may have sabotaged her career in retaliation for her rejections.
  • Nicole Eggert portrayed adolescent Ayla, who is about the same age that Ayla was for a large chunk of the book, including when she was raped by the older Broud. Eggert later claimed that Scott Baio, her Charles in Charge co-star, groomed and sexually abused her from the age of 14 (which would've occurred just a few years after she filmed this movie).
• Narm:
  • Some of the narration can come off as overly cheesy and/or slips into Narrating the Obvious, making it distracting and silly more than helpful or enriching. This doesn't exactly help the film's attempts at a serious tone and actively undermines some of the more dramatic moments.
  • The scene where Brac is nearly dragged off by a wolf is not quite as nail-biting as it could be, on account of the fact it's rather obvious the wolf is carrying a doll.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: While the overall film is regarded as So Okay, It's Average at best, it's often agreed it's not the fault of the actors; most audiences find that they all worked hard to treat the subject matter with sincerity and avoided making it too silly (when it could easily have become so). It's also thought that Daryl Hannah was near-perfect as Ayla, even though she was technically too old for the part.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Whilst the film was not especially well-received by critics or audiences, the make-up effects for the Neanderthals were pretty good and believable, and still don’t look half bad today, whilst the dramatic red and white face-paint Ayla wears during a ritual (featured prominently on posters and the cover) is almost iconic. The film actually received an Oscar nomination at the 59th Academy Awards for Best Make-Up.

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