Snow Dogs 2 anyone? No, actually Eight Below,
the Paul Walker-and-sled-dogs tale inspired by a true story, is nowhere
near as wince-inducing as that piece of kiddie entertainment.
 works his way back to them, his beloved huskies —<br />
including noble pack leader Maya, rambunctious rebel Shorty and<br />
headstrong Max — must learn to survive together. <b>(What’s that, you say?<br />
Slice open the belly of the weakest with a light saber and crawl inside<br />
to stay warm? Feh! They’ll be none of that here.)</b> Driven by unwavering<br />
bonds of friendship, an enormous belief in one another and tremendous<br />
courage, Jerry and the dogs make an incredible journey in this suitably<br />
spirit-rousing action-adventure for generation-spanning family<br />
audiences.</p>
<p>Adapted by freshman screenwriter David DiGilio, <i>Eight Below</i><br />
is based on a Japanese expedition to the South Pole in the late 1950s.<br />
With a game (human) supporting cast consisting of Bruce Greenwood,<br />
Jason Biggs and Moon Bloodgood, <b>the movie definitely aims for a bit of<br />
moralizing and lesson-teaching</b>. At two hours, younger kids will grow a<br />
bit bored at times, but Walker provides a suitable amount of ballast<br />
and the dogs seem to evince real personalities. While the ADR looping<br />
was surely a headache, longtime producer and occasional director Frank<br />
Marshall — who in addition to helming <i>Congo</i> also had plenty of experience in cold environments and under extreme duress, from 1993’s <i>Alive</i> — ties it all together with aplomb. This is a movie that is what it is, and for that reason it’s hard to knock. </p>
<p>Housed in a regular Amray case, <i>Eight Below</i> is presented in<br />
2.40:1 widescreen — all the better to enjoy its vistas — and Dolby<br />
digital 5.1 surround sound, with French and Spanish subtitles. Its<br />
animated menu screen gives way to a 10-and-a-half-minute making-of<br />
featurette, which discusses the film’s location shoot in Smithers, a<br />
town 800 miles north of Vancouver, Canada. It was only there on a ski<br />
resort plateau devoid of trees that the filmmakers finally found a<br />
suitable expanse that could effectively double for Antarctica. Animal<br />
trainer Mark Forbes also provides some interesting comments here. <b>Five<br />
deleted scenes run just under 10 minutes in aggregate, and Marshall<br />
provides alternate commentary on them, along with two other genial<br />
feature-length audio-commentary tracks</b>. The first includes producer Pat<br />
Crowley, and in the second he sits with director of photography Don<br />
Burgess and Walker, who’s always a treat in interviews and settings<br />
like this because he possesses so little of a filter between thought<br />
and vocalization. <b>B- (Movie) B (Disc)</b></p>
<div class=)
Snow Dogs 2 anyone? No, actually Eight Below,
the Paul Walker-and-sled-dogs tale inspired by a true story, is nowhere
near as wince-inducing as that piece of kiddie entertainment.