Ao The Last Neanderthal 3D Blu-ray (2010) [Region Free]

[Telegram Sam]

Apologies if there's already a thread on this one? I've tried searching, but not found one.

This is a caveman movie from 2010, and there's a 3D Blu-ray, with a suspiciously foreign title: "Ao - Der Letzte Neandertaler." I say "suspicious" because, obviously, being German it raises alarm bells. Deafeningly loud ones. Add to that, the film's from 2010 when even proper 3D conversions weren't very good...

It being 99.99% certainly a bad auto-conversion, only a complete fool would order a copy and hope that it's going to deliver anything in the way of a worthwhile 3D experience.

So, my copy should arrive in a week or so. In the meantime, feel free to tell me I've just wasted £11.00. (Or that there's already a long thread detailing just how bad it is.)

Incidentally, there were three or four mentions of the 3D among the Amazon.de reviews, one of which was scathing, but you can never be totally sure if these are people who know what they're talking about.

[the13thman]

Originally Posted by Telegram Sam

Right, I just ordered that Neanderthal film. I'll start a thread on it in a moment. (And 13th Man will probably come along and show me that there's already a thread - which will be full of comments on how it's obviously a crappy auto-conversion, and I'll feel like a colossal idiot...)

It could well be an autoconversion but if it helps, there's no other thread for it and I don't remember any mention of the film anywhere.

[Telegram Sam]

Originally Posted by the13thman

It could well be an autoconversion but if it helps, there's no other thread for it and I don't remember any mention of the film anywhere.

Cheers 13th. I'll report back on what the 3D's like as soon as I receive it - but am fully confident I could tell you right now how it will look...

[Joe D.]

I've seen it listed on several German websites. Though the movie itself seems good, from all indications it's another poor conversion. No english audio or subtitles. It's French and German only audio.

[Telegram Sam]

Originally Posted by Joe D.

I've seen it listed on several German websites. Though the movie itself seems good, from all indications it's another poor conversion. No english audio or subtitles. It's French and German only audio.

Hi Joe. Agree, all the signs look bad.

I actually bought the 2D French edition a week or so ago (I've been on a caveman movie spree) because it had English subtitles (for the narration) whereas, as you say, the German "3D" copy doesn't. I'm thinking that might not be too relevant as I watched Iceman last night (not the Donnie Yen Iceman, but a 2017 Neolithic revenge film) - and the whole thing was in a made-up prehistoric language with (intentionally) no subtitles, but the story worked just fine. I quite enjoyed it.

Anyway, I tried to watch my French 2D Bu-ray of The Last Neanderthal after Iceman - but none of my players would recognise the disc at all (not a region code issue; the disc was faulty). So, that makes me feel a little less of a chump for buying this German copy.

This film is also available on DVD as "Ao: The Last Hunter", which has English subs for the narration. So, I guess that's another possible source for anyone thinking about obtaining a subtitle file to stich onto the 3D copy ...but I'm fairly sure this isn't going to be a film anyone would ever dream of bothering to do that with.)

I'll let you know when it's arrived and whether it's some unknown natively-shot 3D masterpiece. Well, obviously, I don't need a copy to already confirm that it isn't - but at least I'll be able to confirm whether it's Region A friendly for any of my curious/crazy American friends here.

[Telegram Sam]

Received and watched my copy today.

So, the good, the bad, and the ugly of this release:

Firstly, it played fine in both my Region B and Region A players.

The packaging states an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 - but it is in fact 2.35:1. Whether you view this as a positive or negative is up to you; Personally, I was delighted.

The dialogue in the film is in a made-up (obviously) Neanderthal language, with sporadic narration, for which you can chose either French or German - and there are no English subtitles. Honestly though, this doesn’t really matter and I’m pretty sure that, like Quest for Fire, the film works perfectly well with no translation.

As for the film itself, I enjoyed it. It’s a would-be realistic trek through Europe by a Neanderthal character. I don’t know enough about current understandings of these guys’ lives, but it was certainly grounded and felt reasonably plausible (no dinosaurs, but maybe the lead female was a bit too pretty…).

But, the main event, the 3D.

Here are the small handful of references to the film’s 3D that I saw among the Amazon.de reviews, which I’ve put in order of how accurate they are:

“Good 3D, bad plot.”

“Unfortunately, nothing comes out of the TV, so no real 3D.”

“It is impudence to advertise this Blu-ray with ‘3D’ Spatial effects are almost absent.”

“To the 3D version: the really not worth it, since there is no 3D available. There is not even a spatial depth.”

“A cheekiness, however, is the so-called ‘3D’ version. I don't see anything from 3D. Not even the titles shown in the opening credits stand out in any way. That, dear friends, is called customer illusion.”

In reverse order, that is.

So, this is totally 2D, with the flat image pushed a small way behind the screen.

I think this kind of nonsense is sometimes referred to as a “German auto-conversion” - but I feel it’s wrong to call it an auto-conversion. Like I say, the image itself is one hundred per cent two dimensional.

Cinemablend might approve of the blurry double image, but this is a total scam. It’s only the second one of these I’ve bought (Sharknado being the other). The German fella put best: It is an impudence to advertise this as a 3D Blu-ray! Absolutely right.

[reeper]

Originally Posted by Telegram Sam

…only a complete fool would order a copy and hope that it's going to deliver anything in the way of a worthwhile 3D experience.

So, my copy should arrive in a week or so.

This made me chuckle! 😆