Metacritic reviews

A happy surprise, a sweet and silly combination of the cheesy special effects of Japanese sci-fi movies and the witty slapstick of American silent films. [20 Apr 1981]

The movie is nicely whimsical, and elaborate in a way that no fantasy film this side of outer space has lately been. It's dopey, but it's also lots of fun.

A funky, buoyant farce. The picture doesn't have the dirt or meanness or malice to make you explode with laughter, but it's consistently enjoyable.

Relying mostly on slapstick visual humor (only 15 words are spoken, otherwise the dialog is all grunts and groans), the action quickly becomes madcap.

As burlesque, Caveman lacks the good-natured yuks necessary to balance out the lechery. As straight comedy, it's far too salacious a movie to park the kids at on a Saturday afternoon. [17 Apr 1981, p.19]

Priceless it ain't, but if the kids are determined to enjoy it, the brain damage should be minimal. [18 Apr 1981, p.D3]

Caveman seems more in the tradition of Alley Oop, crossed with Mel Brooks's Two Thousand Year Old Man. But the only artistic cross-reference it can manage is from the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick's 2000.