Eight Below

Review by: Doc

Beautifully Shot
Based on a true story of a group of sled dogs abandoned in Antarctica, Eight Below is a live-action animal movie by Disney, the experts in animal movies. Everyone has the same reaction initially from the trailer, “I know, they’re abandoned, have adventures, then are rescued.” It was similar to my take on Titanic, “It sinks, …they drown.” But, seeing it at my wife’s suggestion, I was surprised and delighted.


These eight dogs are amazing and the screen lights up when the film focuses on their time alone. The youngest dog and the lead dog especially are fascinating. You can almost hear the dialogue in their eyes.


The movie’s slow points are, of course, it’s live actor sequences. Most of the actors are relative unknowns but American Pie’s Jason Biggs serves ably in the comic relief role, and stays away from pastry scenes. This is Disney, after all. The weakest plot point is the grudge carried by the hero against the love interest/pilot who can’t fly through a raging polar storm to pick up dogs. It just didn’t ring true to be that angry at someone who refuses to commit suicide for your sled dogs when you spent the early part of the movie drooling after her.


This film is beautifully shot and only a few scenes seem “fake” and in studio, especially the dead orca (I understand “killer whale” in now politically incorrect). After March of the Penguins, the film industry seems fixated on polar cinematography and this film doesn’t disappoint.


As to the ending, I will avoid spoilers. But it didn’t end exactly as I expected and is told well enough to be fascinating to the end. I give it 3 of 5 scalpels and a dog-loving phalanx up.


Doc Hollywood

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