Go see “Eight Below”. It's a cut above. Review on Eight Below Movie

Eight Below the romance spoof Date Movie, from 20th Century Fox is a tale of survival among abandoned sled dogs. Inspired by a true story, EIGHT BELOW is an action-adventure about loyalty and the bonds of friendship set in the extreme wilderness of Antarctica. Eight Below stars Paul Walker as a guide in Antarctica. The film tells the story of three members of a scientific expedition: Jerry Shepard, his best friend, Cooper, and a rugged American geologist who are forced by a sudden accident and perilous weather conditions in Antarctica to leave their team of beloved sled-dog team behind in the frozen wasteland, where the animals must band together to survive the winter. During the harsh, Antarctic winter, the dogs must struggle for survival alone in the intense frozen wilderness for over 6 months. Story in detail: Jerry Shepherd, the guide for an NSF base in Antarctica, is asked to make one more trip late in the season with a scientist in search of a meteor from Mercury. They find the rock but get caught in a vicious snowstorm. On their way back to the base, the scientist falls through the ice. Only the eight sled dogs can save him, first dragging him out of the water then leading the sled back to base in blinding snow and ravaging wind. Soon after they arrive back the evacuation order arrives. There's only one problem: there's no room for the dogs in the plane. Promising to return, Jerry reluctantly leaves the dogs chained securely and without food. The storm worsens by the time they reach the main Antarctic base and a return flight is nixed. As hours turn to days, seven of the eight dogs break free and try to survive. Meanwhile Jerry tries to beg, borrow, or steal permission to return for his dogs but fails. Months later he's finally able to go back, but what will he find when he gets there? Eight Below shows both sides of this tale - the story of the dogs attempt to survive alone in the snowy wilderness and Jerry's guilt and attempts to rescue the dogs or at least determine what happened to them. Before any of that, though, we meet them all on that final trip, get to know both the dogs and the people who frame this story. The story is compelling, as are the characters (especially the dogs). You will be cared about these people and these dogs. Jerry was the human lynchpin and Paul Walker gave him a quiet intensity. Bruce Greenwood portrays Dr. Davis McLaren, the meteor hunter, as a somewhat reserved and removed man who cares little about anything other than his work and family. He thaws a bit by the end of the movie, but he still seemed a bit cold. It worked, though. Moon Bloodgood is one of the local pilots and the sometimes flame of Jerry. One would like her character but didn't entirely buy the romance angle. The main cast is rounded out by the requisite comedic sidekick played by Jason Biggs. I don't know why this part is required for this sort of movie, but Biggs' Cooper is pretty decent as these characters go. The real stars, though, are the dogs. While one would infrequently have some problems distinguishing between some of the dogs, several of them have very distinct personalities. A considerable portion of the movie is spent with just the dogs and despite long stretches without spoken dialogue the movie never gets the least bit boring. The dogs really do communicate with each other through their actions and their body language. The scenes with the dogs are survival scenes and we see them hunt, kill, maim, fight, eat raw flesh and do other similar things that might disturb or gross out some viewers. There's also one really scary moment that will most likely be too much for little ones and may be too much for wimpy adults. Eight Below is filmed in some of the most beautiful winter scenery I've ever seen. It's stark and desolate and yet not the least bit uniform. There are mountains and smooth valleys and snow dunes and ice floes and just about every other type of terrain you can think of, all of it white. One would really felt like he was looking at Antarctica. Eight Below is not perfect, but it works as grand storytelling and as a testament to the bonds of brotherhood (and sisterhood) both between a man and his dogs and between the different dogs in the pack. There are one or two things that bothered me about the movie - the biggest one is that whole thing depends on not being able to take the dogs during the initial evacuation but there appeared to be plenty of room in the plane for them (assuming they didn't need special cages) - but I was engaged in the story, emotionally attached to the dogs and to the people, invested in seeing them somehow survive against all the odds and in being reunited. Any movie that can do that has to be considered a success. The story ends on a happy note after 90 minutes of sadness. You feel very sad for the ''doggies'' throughout and the death of one of the dogs was highlighted at the end with a limp snow covered paw. It is beautifully filmed and a heart warming story but not meant for young kids who get so vested in the welfare of animals. (One very scary moment with a whale and a leopard seal and a dog also took our breath away losing it's story line in the kid's eyes). This movie is geared for young teens and early twenty-something. But will be liked by all age groups. Go see “Eight Below”. It's definitely a cut above the pack.