Herzog's Awesome 3D Doc is 2D in Philly

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams," Werner Herzog's terrific new documentary about the 30,000-year-old drawings in the Chauvet caves of France -- where no filmmaker has been allowed to shoot -- is entertaining in part because he shot it with 3D cameras.

The point is to give us a you-are-there look at the drawings, closed to public access, and to show how the ancient humans who made the drawings used the contours and outcroppings of the cave walls to make the animals seem three-dimensional, almost like sculpture.

It's a treat to see in 3D -- as it was shown to critics when screened in Philadelphia last month at the Rave, which has 3D capability. But it opens Friday at the Ritz theaters, where there is no 3D projection. I haven't seen the 2D version, but my guess is it loses something.

Why doesn't it open at a 3D theater? "Thor," eating up all the 3D screens. And the "Thor" 3D is nothing special.

If you want to see the movie as Herzog intended it to be seen, you have to go to New York, Arlington, Va. or Bethesda.