“Eight Below” (Walt Disney Pictures)
A Dog-Gone Good Movie
If one dog could create a classic Disney movie in “Old Yeller” just think of the possibilities when eight dogs are involved. Plus the new Disney film about lost dogs titled “Eight Below” is based on a true story. You can just imagine the kids lining up in droves. Throw in Hollywood hunk Paul Walker along with “American pie” comic Jason Biggs and you have “hit” written all over the project. And it is a good movie, but with a little tweaking it could have become better.
The story takes place in Antarctica where a scientific team is working. Jerry Shepard (Walker) is in charge of the dog team to carry sleds around the site. There are eight dogs in the team and each is close to Jerry’s heart.
When a visiting scientist (Bruce Greenwood) comes to the site Jerry and the dogs carry him out to look for a meteorite. Later a storm forces an evacuation of the site. There is no room on the escape plane for the dogs so they have to be left behind, with plans to return for them as soon as the weather clears.
As it turns out the weather sets in and the dogs are left indefinitely. And so begins their saga of survival. It seems their survival instincts are great and left to their own devices they find numerous ways to fend for themselves.
The story of the humans is interesting but seems sketchier than the audience would wish. We learn very little about Jerry’s background and why he would have such an attachment to the dogs. There is also a love interest for him in the person of Katie (Moon Bloodgood), the pilot of the site plane, and that is not explained in much detail either.
You just have to accept that Jerry loves the dogs and wants to know they are safe. This search for knowledge about their outcome dominates his life. It keeps him searching for a way to return to the site and to get some resolution to the dogs’ fate.
The scenes devoted to the dogs when they are on their own are amazing. The action of the animals and the photography showing their adventures is properly impressive. You feel you are an unseen observer spying on their lives. The only problem is the dogs are indistinguishable from each other. They look alike and they act alike. It would have been nice if they were each wearing nametags.
The movie is rated PG for mild violence. Only smaller children might have some problems with the animal violence that occurs. They might also question why the dogs are left behind and not taken care of by their owners.
With a little tweaking this could have been a great movie. This would require more of a backstory for the main characters. It also would have helped if we had learned the animals in a more individualistic way. But as is, the movie is still good family entertainment made even more impressive by the fact it is based in truth.
I scored “Eight Below” a dogged 6 out of 10.
