"Eight Below": Warm-hearted tale best Disney adventure in a dog's age
The appealing cast of "Eight Below" co-stars with six Siberian huskies and two malamutes, and the intrepid sled dogs steal the show so handily that you'll wonder why they didn't get top billing.
Granted, the human actors are likable enough. With his blazing blue eyes, Paul Walker (star of "The Fast and the Furious") isn't exactly the next Paul Newman, but his sincere presence is well-suited to this splendid Disney adventure. Walker plays a sled-team guide for a research outpost in Antarctica whose devotion kicks in when his sled dogs are endangered.
Under the no-nonsense direction of veteran producer Frank Marshall (directing his first film since the 1995 flop "Congo"), "Eight Below" becomes robust family entertainment and a dog lover's delight.
The inspiring story is loosely based on actual events from 1957 to '58 (previously filmed as the acclaimed 1983 Japanese film "Antarctica"), in which sled dogs on a Japanese expedition were stranded for six months during a harsh Antarctic winter. In "Eight Below," the team is smaller and the survival rate higher, but the story (set in early 1993) boasts the same crowd-pleasing ingredients of breathtaking locations (in Norway, Greenland and Canada), a dangerous journey and photogenic dogs playing the ultimate game of "Survivor: Antarctica."
Tempting fate, Jerry Shepard (Walker) guides his sled team to a remote mountain where a renowned geologist (Bruce Greenwood) seeks a meteorite fragment from Mercury. They barely return alive when "the worst storm in 25 years" forces them to evacuate with supply-plane pilot — and Jerry's former flame — Katie (Moon Bloodgood) and goofball cartographer Cooper (Jason Biggs).
With no room on the plane, the dogs must endure the winter alone. While guilt-ridden Jerry struggles for months to mount a rescue mission, periodic titles keep a running tally of the dogs' treacherous "days on their own."
The human drama is routine, but the dog sequences are outstanding. Apart from a genuinely frightening encounter with a leopard seal and a dazzling display of aurora australis (or Southern Lights), digital effects and animatronics are kept to a minimum, leaving canine charisma to spare.
If you don't choke up at least once during the dogs' engaging adventure, you obviously prefer cats.
Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net
"Eight Below," with Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood, Jason Biggs. Directed by Frank Marshall, from a screenplay by Dave DiGilio. 120 minutes. Rated PG for some peril and brief mild language. Several theaters.