Cave of Forgotten Dreams

From filmmaker Werner Herzog comes a sporadically interesting yet pervasively pointless documentary that details the discovery of centuries-old drawings within a French cave, with Herzog’s use of 3D undoubtedly standing as the most obvious hindrance to the movie’s success. The added dimension adds nothing to the viewer’s appreciation of the admittedly impressive etchings, and there quickly reaches a point at which one is simply tempted to close their eyes and listen to Herzog’s expectedly off-the-wall narration. Headache-inducing visuals aside, Cave of Forgotten Dreams suffers from a repetitive, almost academic sensibility that’s certain to alienate even the most patient of viewers (ie this thing has clearly been geared towards a very, very specific demographic). Herzog’s inability to make the viewer care about any of this proves disastrous, and it’s also worth noting that the filmmaker’s efforts at stretching out the incredibly thin premise into a feature-length endeavor grow increasingly desperate as time progresses (ie was the spear demonstration really necessary?) And although Herzog’s legendarily insane voice-over work remains a highlight (eg he makes a reference to a “crocodile that looks back into the abyss of time”), Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a miscalculation that even the idiosyncratic filmmaker’s fans will have trouble defending.

* out of ****