Eight Below

Let me start by saying that I do not normally watch these animal based, Disney family movies (I'm too old for the cheesy kids films really). What tempted me by this film was a magazine review and the fact that it was based on a true story. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised!

The story centres around a scientific expedition in the Antarctic searching for meteor rocks. A scientists (Bruce Greenwood) is led to the site by a guide (Paul Walker) and his team of sled dogs. While they are at the site, base camp receives a radio call saying a bad storm is heading their way and to cancel the expedition. The whole camp is evacuated but the helicopter does not have enough room for the sled dogs and they are left behind, (chained up together in the cold weather), on the promise that they will be picked up in a couple of days. The Storm then turns out to be worse than expected and the team cannot take the risk of returning to site and the dogs are reluctantly abandoned. The rest of the film is based on the dogs fight for survival and their guides attempts to get back and save them.

Normally this sort of film is very much aimed at children and can be very sentimental. This one manages to do it in a way that will appeal to all age groups and tells the story very well.

All the cast members perform well, although Jason Biggs can be a little irritating (he's not in in too much though), and the dogs do a great job.

Some scenes may be a little upsetting for smaller children but as an all round family film, this is one of the better ones I have seen.

Talk about sub-freezing temperatures, ice fields, dogs and killer seals it can only be the Walt Disney feature film Eight Below. Based on a Japanese Antarctic film and inspired by a real-life story of sled dogs who survived extended subzero abandonment

In the extreme wilderness of Antarctica, Paul Walker plays Jerry Shepard, a guide at a research base. When a University Professor arrives asking to be taken to Mount Melbourne in an attempt to find a rare meteorite, Shepard's intuition tells him it is too late in the season to make the treacherous route, yet he agrees. Worried about the snowmobile breaking through the thinning ice, he elects to use his beloved dog sled team for the journey. Upon their return, Shepard pauses to patch up one of the dogs, the professor slides down an embankment through thin ice and almost drowns. With both men battling hypothermia and frostbite, it is the dogs' stamina and keen sense of direction that gets them back to base. All personal are immediately evacuated, unfortunately, they must leave the dogs and return for them later. As the storm worsens it becomes clear no rescue will be attempted until the next spring.

The movie proceeds to profile the dogs' plight and Walker scrambling for months to get his furry friends back. Stranded, the intelligent, courageous dogs spend the next six months fighting for survival and battling the Antarctic wilderness. Heartbroken Shepard tries all avenues to return for his beloved dogs and more than six months later he is given the opportunity. Six of the eight dogs survive by eating whatever they could get their paws on; birds and whale. It shows that even though there is little food available, the dogs look out for each other, share food and make sure no one is left behind.

The Verdict

As far as non-animated Disney films go this is one of the best I have seen in a long time. Outdoorsy Paul Walker knows exactly what flick would suit him. Last summer he went deep sea diving in the Bahamas in Into the Blue and this film sees him stride through ice and snow with a pack of Huskies. With no troubles he manages to effectively convey a guy dedicated to rescuing his best friends.

Movies about animals always live with the temptation to give them human characteristics. Lassie could do nearly all things humans could, well, except dial the telephone and drive a car maybe. March of the Penguins involved the penguins expressing themselves in voice-over dialogue. This story sees the dogs as exactly what they are. It is remarkable, how in a film where we know most of the dogs must survive, it succeeds as an effective story, by focusing on the dogs, rather than the humans and pulling the audience into the incredible adventure. While Walker hunts for help to save his beloved dogs, the subtitles keep count of how long the dogs have been on their own: 50 days ... 133 days ... 155 days. Even though it was not shot in Antarctica but rather the ice capped mountains in British Columbia and Greenland, there is some spectacular ice-cap photography, and audiences are unable to tell the difference.

In a tale of survival and friendship, this film makes anyone want to grab your favourite pet and promise you'll never leave them. Eight Below delivers a bracing blast of puppy power that helps dispel the outrageously boring, and quite dreadful Disney's 2002 films Snow Dogs.