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Eight BelowClaudia PuigEight Below is an engaging adventure saga for family audiences that is more along the lines of the captivating March of the Penguins than the sodden Snow Dogs. The story of the endurance of a pack of hardy sled dogs easily brings a lump to the throat of dog lovers - and in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit to a weakness for movies with canines that are triumphing in the face of adversity. The tale of eight huskies and malamutes left stranded in Antarctica, and the man who was determined to rescue them, Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker), is loosely based on a true story. Shepard is an outdoorsman who ferries scientists to remote corners of Antarctica with his pack of well-trained dogs. He is assigned to accompany a professor (Bruce Greenwood) who has traveled across the globe from UCLA to the icy continent to research meteorites. Peril ensues, the dogs respond with bravery and the pair narrowly escape with their lives. Then the expedition is called back to base camp because of a brewing early winter storm. All the hardy adventurers in Antarctica must evacuate quickly before becoming snowed in. But only one helicopter is available, and it can't accommodate the professor's heavy gear and the weight of the dogs. The professor, Shepard, a cartographer (Jason Biggs, seemingly on hand only for comic relief) and the helicopter pilot (Moon Bloodgood) who is Shepard's love interest board the craft and leave. The plan is to return for the pooches. But when the weather makes that impossible, a guilt-ridden Shepard returns to the USA. He spends months trying to find the resources to return and rescue the dogs he loves, who were left chained outside in the cold. Fortunately, these are not your everyday hounds. They band together like a pack of wolves and hunt sea gulls to survive. Walker is adorable, but gives a one-note performance. Greenwood, a charismatic and unsung character actor, has the most noteworthy human performance as a somewhat arrogant academic whose decency keeps him from becoming a stock villain in a formulaic story. But the human performances are eclipsed by the four-footed ones. And intentionally so.
Though it has plenty of moments of predictability, Eight Below also has its surprises. It's an engrossing film that reminds us of the nobility and grace of man's best friend, and of the fierce will to survive in the face of the harshest of odds.
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