Eight Below

Director: Frank Marshall
Screenwriter: Dave DiGilio
Starring: Paul Walker, Moon Bloodgood, Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood
Running time: 120 mins
Certificate: PG

When Antarctic guide Jerry Shepard (Walker) and scientist Davis (Greenwood) are caught out in a perilous storm, it is only Shepard’s pack of eight trusty sled-dogs that ensure their survival. However, when the humans are forced to leave their outpost, the dogs are left behind, with no chance of rescue for several months. Anguished over the fate of his beloved dogs, Shepard pledges to save his dogs at whatever cost.

Based on true events (and 1983 Japanese movie Nankyoku Monogatari) Eight Below tells the story from the perspectives of both Shepard in his struggle to reach his dogs, and the canines themselves in their struggle to survive. Beautifully shot against the bleak scenery of Canada, it’s an excellent family film with unsubtle messages about working together.

As can be expected from a Disney movie about a group of cute animals in a struggle for survival, Eight Below is unabashedly sentimental. The dogs each have their own personalities and inter-relationships, perhaps to an unrealistic degree, which ensures that the audience gets emotionally involved for each one, the filmmakers doing well to avoid them becoming simply homogenous "dogs". Although it is ultimately a feel-good movie, it never crosses the line and becomes too sickly.

Since the dogs enjoy roughly as much screen time as their bipedal counterparts, it is pivotal that the animals’ acting is up to scratch, which it undoubtedly is. It might even be said that the plight of the dogs is more compelling than the actions of the humans, which is more a testament to the training of the dogs (who have variously appeared in Snow Dogs and Malcolm in the Middle) than a slight on the performances of the humans. Paul Walker does a competent job outside of his tough-guy persona, whilst American Pie’s Jason Biggs provides some welcome comic relief.

Sure to turn off the more cold-hearted for its sentimentality, Eight Below is well worth a watch for dog-lovers and family audiences alike.