Werner Herzog's 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams': A new dimension for 3D?

In movieland, the third dimension is typically the province of big budget animated flicks and franchise fare. But, this weekend, theatres are handing out the special glasses for decidedly artier fare: Werner Herzog's documentary about Paleolithic cave paintings, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Has the acclaimed German director (Grizzly Man, Aguirre: The Wrath of God) managed to de-cheese the technology as he immerses audiences in ancient caverns? (Watch the film's trailer.)

Yes, Cave is an amazing use of 3D: I typically associate 3D movies with cheap thrills and overblown franchises, but Herzog's use of it is a "stroke of genius," says Leah Carroll in The Atlantic. It's the "perfect combination of unexpected yet inevitable," a brilliant way to capture the startling beauty of Paleolithic cave paintings and the human impulse to create. Clearly, 3D technology can do more than inflate the ticket prices of tent-pole flicks.

"Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams: 3-D done right"

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And wonderfully subtle: Herzog and his cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger use the added dimension in a "lovely, quiet, enveloping way" says Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. The result is a film that "takes you to a place you won't soon forget" and serves as a refreshing alternative to the "animated mediocrities and bombastic live-action attractions slapped with the 3D label."

"Art that stands test of time"

But at times a little blah: "The 3D is sometimes less than transporting," says Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. It's not a perfect film — the "new-agey score tended to remind me of my last spa massage" and there's an extraneous coda involving albino crocodiles — but still, "it's a blast to be inside the cave, to see these images, within 3D grabbing reach."

"Herzog finds his inner cave man"