2 out of 5

A gorgeously animated art style and buddy-coppish meet-cute can’t conquer an overall unmotivated script and juddery framing.

A cave boy befriends a bear.  Cave boy is looking for his friend / mate / something.  They fight some wolves, have some food, and then To Be Continued as a stampede approaches.

That that’s the summation of what occurs isn’t necessarily my nit, as I’ve enjoyed books that have done less in more pages.  But I wasn’t engaged.  Artist Zak Hartong’s Boom-esque loose but lively pencils and rich colors are, panel by panel, wonderful, and give the book spirit, for sure, but it doesn’t gel into the greatest storytelling.  And I’m being overly mean to Miles Greb’s script, which has a matching playfulness to it, I just kept wanting there to be something more.  Also: this wasn’t a bear, and cave boy is actually a mom.  Make of my reduction of that what you will.