Featuring a stellar cast of marooned mutts, who deftly display emotion, tenderness, loyalty and resolve, Eight Below is a heartwarming and exhilarating adventure film.
Featuring a stellar cast of marooned mutts, who deftly display emotion, tenderness, loyalty and resolve, Eight Below is a heartwarming and exhilarating adventure film.
audience
80
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 355,204
Eight brave sled dogs search for the master who is looking for a way to rescue them in this adventure drama. An American geologist (Bruce Greenwood) flies to Antarctica to participate in a project at the United States Research Base, where he teams up with arctic guide Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) and his best friend, Cooper (Jason Biggs). The scientist soon discovers that Shepard also has eight other valuable friends -- a pack of sled dogs he's worked with for years, who have rescued him from a
number of tight spots. As the three men explore a frozen mountain region, an unexpected accident coupled with a massive storm front forces them to fly to safety, leaving the dogs behind. Shepard is determined to rescue his canine friends, but he has to wait until the weather will allow him to travel back to the mountain, while the dogs struggle against the elements to survive as they attempt to make their way back home. Eight Below was inspired by a true story involving Japanese researchers exploring the Antarctic in 1957; the story was made into the film Nankyoku Monogatari. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
It's too clichéd, it's too rote, and honestly I think you have to care a little bit more about the individual dogs to believe that these people would care so much.
... the canine cuteness, breathtaking action and acts of bravery are worth braving the Disney elements -- overpowering, poignant music, an unnecessary romantic subplot -- if you like your movies doggy-style.
Providing you park your reason outside and let these amazing dogs do the work, which they appear delighted to do, Eight Below is an engaging enough way to spend an hour or two with the kids.
The movie is overly long and much too intense for small children, yet it's filled with dialogue and plot turns that are too juvenile to thrill adult audiences.
At first sight a fun but slightly sappy man-and-his-dogs story, Eight Below quickly evolves into a well-crafted wilderness adventure reminiscent of Disney's heyday.
The human interaction is just a little too precious and the digression away from the dogs and the main story is just too long for it to feel like anything but a major detour.
When the dogs are on-camera or when we're watching dramatic scenery of the rugged Greenland and British Columbia snowy terrain, this Frank Marshall film is pretty captivating.
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