Warning to all students: "10,000 B.C." is not a replacement for your history books. Please do not write a term paper about how the mammoths helped build the pyramids several thousand years before organized civilization.

Still, historical inaccuracies, or impossibilities, aren't reason alone to shun a motion picture. If we did that, there would be almost nothing to watch. "10,000 B.C.," however, is also dim-witted and dull, a combo more lethal than a sharpened stick.

The movie tells the story of a nomadic prehistoric tribe that barely makes a living hunting the wild mammoth. D'Leh (Steven Strait) is a strapping young lad with aspirations. He wants to be the top hunter and wed the blue-eyed beauty Evolet (Camilla Belle). Unfortunately, a more technologically advanced enemy sweeps through with its horses and swords and other stuff that wasn't used for thousands of years (one guy had an iPod) and destroys the settlement, taking Evolet and others prisoner.

D'Leh, his mentor Tic'Tic and his rival Ka'Ren take off in pursuit in a desperate attempt to free their friends. The journey, over the course of a few days, tops, takes them from the ice age, through a tropical rain forest, then to the desert and something like Egypt. Along the way, they raise a giant multicultural army with which to battle the bad guys.

The acting is cardboardish, the dialogue is cheesy -- not the least of it the mystical, rambling narration by Omar Sharif -- and the glacial pace is impossible to overlook. There is far too little action and drama to make the rest worthwhile. "10,000 B.C." is essentially Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" on Quaaludes.

Sure, some of the effects are pretty good -- the mammoths look cool -- and Belle (who to her credit has appeared in a worse film: "When a Stranger Calls") maintains the most perfect makeup of any cave girl you're likely to ever see. But you'll be better off looking elsewhere for your history and your entertainment.

Rental Recommendation: Add a couple of zeroes, and you have "One Million Years B.C." Raquel Welch, allegedly, clipped small pieces off her animal skin bikini during the course of the filming, just to see how much they could get away with. So I guess there is one reason to watch it. Grade: D.

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