A remote hunting tribe who dwell in the mountainous region of Africa in 10,000 BC are raided by a mysterious band of warlords on horseback who take many of the clan as slaves. D'leh (Strait), a young hunter in the clan, escapes the warlord's imprisonment, but watches his love, Evolet (Belle), being led away as a slave to the gruesome gang. It is up to D'leh to follow his heart and try to save his captive clansman and his love from a life of beatings, hard labor, and misery. Along the way D'leh meets many leaders of tribes that pledge their allegiance to him to try to overthrow the oppressors and gain the freedom of their fellow clansman back.(Stacey Pendry)
Special features on include a three-minute alternate ending, 11 minutes of deleted scenes, two featurettes—Behind The Story: A Wild And Wooly Ride (14 minutes) and Inside An Epic (13 minutes), and previews.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.38:1 DVD generally looks soft, but there are times when it can show good detail. Black levels are consistent throughout, but they are slightly elevated. Shadows are delineated well, though. Compression artifacts can be noticed throughout the presentation, and sporadic noise can be distracting as well. Colors are nicely saturated, often popping from the screen, and during daylight scenes, fleshtones look natural. Contrast is balanced well, and edge enhancement is minor. The VC-1-encoded Blu-ray Disc also appears soft, and black levels are also slightly elevated, but consistent. There appears to be minor crush in the shadows of the Blu-ray Disc, but compression artifacts aren't noticeable. Contrast is too low at times, causing the image to appear washed-out. (Danny Richelieu)
The DVD's Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack features a broad front stage with solid imaging across its breadth. There is also a noticeable sense of depth to the front stage, with good dynamic range. The surrounds can be lacking, though, which is disappointing. Fidelity is pristine, but bass tonality is rather poor. Dialogue often sounds too forward with poor spatial integration, but it is recorded well, sounding crisp and articulate. The Blu-ray Disc's lossless Dolby TrueHD encoding delivers improved fidelity, with tighter bass that is more articulate and provides better visceral impact. The noise floor is very low, and dynamic range is commendable. (Danny Richelieu)