Does '10,000 B.C.' Live Up to A.D. Standards?

"10,000 B.C.," directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Independence Day"), is the latest attempt at the not-so-original heroic epic story which promises a lot in posters and movie trailers but unfortunately doesn't quite live up to its word.

Beginning in a remote arctic world "lost in time" where woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers rule the land, young hunter D'Leh (Steven Strait) discovers the passion of his heart in the blue-eyed adoptee Evolet (Camilla Belle) after she is rescued from her ruined village where "four-legged demons" have killed off the rest of her tribe.

After she and several other folks from D'Leh's village are next on the savages' kidnapping list, D'Leh sets off to find his true love by venturing into dangerous, uncharted territory, faces insurmountable odds, and ultimately saves civilization.

The movie, recently compared to being an extremely watered-down version of Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto," is chock-full of historical inaccuracies (the title itself implies it is more accurate than not), language problems (English spoken in the movie was the kind we speak today), and less-than-spectacular CGI effects.

Not to mention the plot issues that could go on for days, some of which being the domestication of woolly mammoths into slavery (unlikely) for the mass production of pyramids reaching into the heavens.

There were times when I rolled my eyes at some of the predicaments our hero and his posse landed themselves into - one of which being how D'Leh was inexplicably able to get into the slaves' prison room and leave just as easily and just as undetected. I also found myself cringing on more than one occasion at poorly written dialogue that sounded like it should have been in the parody version of the movie.

It's also important to take heed that if you are hoping for a "Gladiator" or "300" wannabe, you will be sadly mistaken.

The movie was more of a mushy romance flick under the pretense of an action movie. There were too many dull moments for it to be called a pure action or battle movie, but the few action scenes that were there were pretty fun to watch.

Even the battle scenes screamed the fact that the PG-13 rating was meant to lure as many people of all ages in as possible. The amount of blood and violence shown was minimal and could even border on something Disney would be proud to show off.

Still, I knew that I hadn't been promised an Oscar-winning film with depth of character and theme, so I wasn't too disappointed at the lack of substance, even for the ridiculous price of a movie ticket and a snack.

I was truly intrigued at wanting to know the end result of all the hype put into the movie and overall had a fun time watching it all unfold, particularly the "Lord of the Rings"-style helicopter sweeps with Omar Sharif's narrations.

Overall, I give this "popcorn" movie a C.