Eight Below [2006]

Inspired by true events, Eight Below sees Disney returning to sled dog territory and the results are better than 2002’s Snow Dogs – plus we don’t have to endure seeing one-time Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. having a dream sequence where the dogs talk all hip to him.

Paul Walker heads the cast of human characters as dog trainer Jerry Sheppard, who’s been working at an Antarctic research station and has a group of huskies who he uses to get to the harder places around the area. They’re pretty much like family to him, so you can imagine his disappointment when they have to leave them behind in order to fly out scientist David McClaren (Bruce Greenwood) when he gets injured after going out looking for chunks of a meteor.

Things get a lot worse from there as it turns out there’s a giant storm on its way and the government has decided to shut down all the Arctic stations – of which Walker’s is one of. This means they have no way to get back and rescue the dogs from the storm. While Walker tries to figure out a way to get back out there, the dogs are left to their own devices and Eight Below follows them as they survive over a hundred and fifty days out in the wilderness. They have to scrounge for food, survive the elements, and deal with such things as an encounter with a seal (done completely in CGI, which feels out of place) that could lead to death – and gives us a mild "jump" moment.

Eight Below is all about the dogs. The human characters are pretty much thrown to the backseat and are only on hand to give us glimpses of the "rescue mission" being mounted. Walker is acceptable in his "everyday guy" role despite being given little to do, while Jason Biggs (the American Pie movies) offers disposable comic relief, but it doesn’t really matter, as it’s the sled dogs that have the most personality.

Thankfully, director Frank Marshall (who scored hits with Arachnophobia and Alive, before striking out with Congo) has decided to not go overboard on making the dogs too cutesy and while his film purposely tugs at the heartstrings and plays out like a polished made-for-TV flick, it delivers exactly what you’d expect: a family movie that’ll entertain the entire family and not just the kids.

Sure, Eight Below is pure schmaltz at times, and the source “true story” is taken secondhand by scripter David DiGilio from a 1983 Japanese film Nankyoku Monogatari (which is set in 1958 and covers much of the same ground – minus the sappiness, I assume), but for a movie I had absolutely no intention of seeing (I was taken to the theatres by my wife, as she wanted to see the "puppy movie") I left the theatres pleasantly surprised. And that’s a pretty good thing considering I’m not a huge fan of live-action Disney produced movies...

3 out of 4

Directed by Frank Marshall. Written by David DiGilio. 120 minutes. PG