Eight Below (2006)

Directed by: Frank Marshall | 115 minutes | drama, adventure, family | Actors: Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood, Jason Biggs, Gerard Plunkett, August Schellenberg, Wendy Crewson, Belinda Metz, Connor Christopher Levins, Duncan Fraser, Dan Ziskie, Michael David Simms, Daniel Bacon, Laara Sadiq, Malcolm Stewart, Dexter Bell, Gary Chalk, Brenda Campbell, Michael Adamthwaite, Buddy Cain, Damon Johnson, Richard Sali, Panou, Buck, DJ, Floyd, Koda Bear, Megan McKinnon, Levi Woods

It is a bit colder at the South Pole than the “eight degrees below zero” from the title. Those eight are, of course, the beautiful huskies and malamutes (breeds of the sled dogs) who star alongside Paul Walker in this icy adventure from Walt Disney Pictures. ‘Eight Below’ is inspired by the movie ‘Nankyoku Monogatari’ (1983) about the amazing true story of a Japanese expedition to the South Pole in 1958.

That Paul Walker is very sporty is apparent from the choice of his roles. American football in ‘Varsity Blues’ (1999), racing in ‘The Fast and the Furious’ (2001), scuba diving in ‘Into the Blue (2005) and now sleigh rides in ‘Eight Below’. He is a nature person, dog lover and father, so he had a lot of fun making this family film. Jason Biggs plays his friend and cartographer Charlie Cooper, a funny klutz with a fear of flying. Biggs is a specialist in self-mockery so here too he gets his share, this time in the form of dog slime. The handsome, Eurasian Moon Bloodgood is ‘Crazy Katie’, a tough pilot. Then there are the dogs. What an impressive animal they are with their intense, blue eyes. It took three real dogs for every sled dog in the film. A lot of hard work was done by and with the dog trainers to be able to film everything correctly. Frank Marshall, director of the epic adventure films ‘Alive’ (1993) and ‘Congo’ (1995) and Don Burgess cinematographer of ‘Spider-Man’ (2002) and ‘The Polar Express’ (2004) were happy to take on the great challenge of impressively capture the beauty of Antarctica’s vast icy landscape and sled dogs. They certainly managed to show the coldest, stormiest and most desolate area on Earth. Even though the cast shot in Canada before that and shot in Norway and Greenland for the rest.

‘Eight Below’ is actually a mix of ‘March of the Penguins’ and ‘Snow Dogs’ (2002), also from Disney. The film differs from the latter in that its focus is on the survival of the dogs. So not always ‘happy’, occasionally scary (scene with leopard seal), but still ‘Disney’. The contrast between the icy South Pole and home where Jerry finds himself in the meantime is well represented by the use of color. Leader of the sled dogs Maya (real name Koda Bear) turned out to be a perfect cast, that dog was a very good actor. How the dogs take care of each other will move all viewers. Only Paul Walker should have shown even more emotion, more despair and certainly more surprise when he finally sees his supposedly dead dogs again. ‘Eight Below’ is not exceptional in terms of progression, but the tricks with the dogs and the landscape are. All in all it is a beautiful, exciting, moving adventure film that everyone can enjoy.