Review of Eight Below (2006) by Panagiotis K — 02 Mar 2009

How can you not like this movie? Okay, I know. Not a very objective way to start a movie review. Just about any movie that is about the Arctic or Antarctic should be appealing to everybody. Why? it's about a place that most people have never traveled to.

A truly incredible place to behold much less survive in as we all saw in "March of the Penguins." Everything about this environment is amazing, intriguing, and dangerous. I'm sure many people see it's Disney and immediately discount it and understandably so.

I'm sure many have written this off as just some kiddie flick. When I first saw the trailer for this, it really had me. I wanted to see this. It looked dramatic and exciting....and indeed it was. Dr.

Davis McLaren (Greenwood) has tavelled around the world to the most isolated place on Earth - Antarctica - to investigate a meteorite. To do so he's going to need professional Antarctic guide Jerry Shepherd (Walker) and his crack team of sled dogs to get him across the ice.

But when ambitious McLaren is hurt in an accident, he and the rest of the field team must be evacuated, leaving the dogs to fend for themselves until the weather clears and they can be rescued. The film quickly evolves into a well-crafted wilderness adventure reminiscent of Disney's heyday as the dogs roam the naked Antarctic wastes, trying to survive on their own.

The story moves back and forth between the dogs plight and the lives of the human survivors back in the States, particularly Shepherd, wracked with guilt for leaving them behind. That's where the real strength and enjoyment of the movie lies, with the dogs.

Their journey is compelling and heartfelt whether its, hunting for food, playing with the Borealis, and in one particularly exciting sequence, fighting with a hungry sea leopard over food. It covers quite a bit of familiar ground, but it does so very well.

It works best by focusing on the dogs, all eight of them (hence the title). There's dumb but hard-working, red-headed Buck, the twins Dewey & Truman, the maternal Alpha leader Maya, young Max, poker-playing Old Jack, silver-maned Shadow, and rebellious Shorty.

They're all adorable and convey a wide range of emotion. Yes animals, especially dogs, feel and show emotions such as loyalty, anxiety, affection, hunger, and anger. Shepherd never stops thinking about them, but there's not much he can do.

He visits McClaren, whose research financed the dogsled expedition, and he hangs out at his mobile home on a scenic Oregon coast, and he pursues a reawakening love affair with Katie (Bloodgood), the pilot who ferried them to and from the station.

He's depressed & brokenhearted at the thought of what his dogs are enduring. Meanwhile, the subtitles keep count of how long the dogs have been on their own which is from sometime in January to sometime in July.

The film may seem kinda long for what is given but I think it adds to the feeling of the dogs endurance. It gets a bit sappy towards the end as earnest movies often tend to do and as this movie should.

The trip is worth it though, creating a fine piece of wilderness adventure, a genre I grew up with and has languished in recent years. Inspired by a Japanese film, itself based on real events, but the 1958 "true story," seven of nine dogs died.

Still, the film doesn't claim to be a documentary, and the story, believable or not, is strong and involving. It's the stuff about the humans that gets a lil thin but I can deal with it because the dogs really pull the movie.

Pun intended. I've know many scoff at the acting abilities of Walker. Maybe they see him as just another pretty boy. From the interviews I've read with him and from what acting I've seen him in.

...I like him. Director Frank Marshall is mostly well-known for his work as a producer. He's worked on many memorable hits such as the Indiana Jones & the Back to the Future trilogies as well as the recent Bourne movies.

When I heard he directed this it I was sold. I trust him and he did not let me down at all. Cinematographer Don Burgess did a beautiful job with the overall look. The music by the always great Mark Isham is quite noticeable mainly in the silent scenes with the dogs.

Just three artists who made this movie seem so much more than another sad, tired Disney remake. It succeeds on another level as well. Those of you, who aren't "dog people," will find as much pleasure in this movie as those (like myself) who are.