Eight Below DVD Review
Posted by Neil Borenstein on 07.19.2006
Would you take a chance for the things you care about?
Eight Below DVD Review
Cast:
Paul Walker
Bruce Greenwood
Moon Bloodgood
Jason Biggs
Gerard Plunkett
DVD Information:(credit: www.amazon.com)
Genre: Adventure/Family/Drama
Region: Region 1
Number of Discs: 1
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: June 20, 2006
Run Time: 120 Minutes
Specs: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound – English, French, Spanish; French and Spanish Subtitles; Wide Screen (2.40:1)
“ … the exciting part isn’t what you know is there, it’s what you don’t know. It’s what you might find, and it’s the same here. I came halfway around the world to look for something that’s important to me … You gotta take chances for the things you care about.”
- Doctor Davis McClaren
Eight Below is really so much more than just a movie. Not because it’s based on true events, and not because artic explorers and their dogs go through the conditions depicted in the movie throughout their entire lives. But instead, it is a film about compassion. It is a film about one man’s love for his dogs and his unwillingness to ease his mind when he doesn’t have closure of their condition. It is a film about one man’s repayment to another by helping him in his journey after he was saved during his. It is a film about a group of animals that recognize the need for survival and put each other before their individual selves. And it is a film that is an identification of nature, and the need to stick together against whatever cruel elements it may throw in the way.
Spoiler Warning: The following is a summary of the movie that details most of what takes place. If you do not want the events of the film to be told to you, please skip down to where I have posted “Spoiler Warning End” and proceed to read from there.
The movie mostly takes place in Antarctica. Jerry Sheppard, played by Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious, Running Scared), is an artic guide who holds the glamorous job of leading his eight sled dogs, who he cares for very much – Mya, Max, Shorty, Shadow, Dewey, Truman, Jack and Buck – in the guidance of scientists throughout the harsh artic terrain while they do whatever activity they have come all the way south to do. This time around, Doctor Davis McClaren, played by Bruce Greenwood (I,Robot, Capote), is searching for a meteor, and would cause series advances in his field. He surprises Jerry with the news that he will need to journey to Mount Melbourne, which is unsafe during that particular season, but the two men and eight sled dogs journey out in search of Dr. McClaren’s all-important “rock.”
Along the way, the home base, occupied by four members including cartographer Coop, short for Charlie Cooper, played by Jason Biggs (American Pie, Jersey Girl), and pilot Katie, played by Moon Bloodgood (A Lot Like Love, Win A Date With Tad Hamilton), is informed of an incoming major storm. They need to radio the two men out towards Mount Melbourne immediately that they must return to the base. Dr. McClaren is not entirely please that they made the trek out and finally make it to their destination, but he won’t have any time to navigate for the meteor they came out for as Jerry told him they will leave the next morning. After pleading his case, Jerry allows him half a day to do what he has to do, and they must set out by noon.
After finding what he came for in only half a day, after disobeying Jerry’s request to stay within the safe zone of the area they were in, the two pack up the sled and head back to the base as to beat the storm. Along the way, Jack’s paw has a problem, so Jerry gets out to cast it, and instructs Dr. McClaren to radio the base. As he is doing so, he walks a little too far forward, and apiece of the ice he is standing on breaks, and he tumbles down several feet to a sheet of ice underneath. He breaks his leg and is unable to move. As he lies there on his back while Jerry assesses the situation, the ice cracks, and Dr. McClaren begins to fall into the water underneath. He holds onto the ice as instructed as he will freeze slower than he will drown, and with the help of the dogs, especially the lead Siberian, Mya, they rescue the doctor, and pack him into the sled as head back to the base.
Once they return to the base, Dr. Andy Harrison and his crew help out the dogs, Jerry and the doctor. Jerry’s fingertips have some frostbite on them and the doctor’s leg is in need of immediate medical attention, otherwise he could lose it. It is decided that they must leave now for that medical attention, and they cannot bring the dogs with them, which is a major concern for Jerry considering these are his “kids” and he cares for them so greatly that leaving them in a harsh storm is almost inconceivable. He is told that Katie, who will fly them to a hospital, will fly back to get the dogs, but that still isn’t good enough for him. He does eventually get in the plane, but not before tying up the dogs so that they do not become loose. They take off, and the dogs are left alone at the base.
At the hospital in a different part of Antarctica, Jerry finds out that Katie has not left to return for the dogs due to the severity of the storm and the upcoming winter, and it will literally be months before it will once again be safe for people to fly south to that area of Antarctica.
The rest of the movie becomes a search within for Jerry and those around him. How much do these dogs mean to him and those who know him, and what are they willing to do in order to help those dogs who are by themselves during some of the harshest conditions that part of Antarctica has seen in a quarter of a century? Seemingly, the only person has had not given up hope and was willing to fight was the person who cared about those dogs the most, and that was Jerry.
Immediately upon returning to the United States, Jerry tries to find a way to get back down to Antarctica to check on the conditions of the dogs. He takes every course of action he can, whether it is through the government or by trying to put almost a guilt trip on the doctor to use his credentials and sources to help him out. Every route he takes seems to go nowhere, and meanwhile, the dogs are still in the harshness of the Artic, all by themselves.
The film keeps a track of the date and how many days have gone by since the dogs have been left on their own. Only 15 days in, the pack must leave one of their own behind, Jack, as he is the only one that did not break loose from his chain and is no condition to walk. As six of the dogs go forward to chase some birds for food, Mya hangs back for a few moments to comfort the companion they will be departing. She too goes forward and Jack is left at the base by himself.
After being left on their own for 50 days, the dogs do continue to move, and unfortunately lose another one of their group as a dog falls off a sheet of ice and rolls down a hill. The dog cannot move and the other dogs go down to comfort it, but that dog will soon enough die off, leaving six still alive after only 50 days on their own.
Back in the States, Jerry seemed to have lost hope and had begun renting kayaks to children. He is then reunited with Katie, who he hadn’t spoken with for some time and who has been seeing an engineer, and she tries to talk to him about what happened and make him feel better about leaving the dogs behind.
Jerry goes to visit the man who raised the dogs, and he tells Jerry a story of his father, and how he encountered a bear with his six dogs. His father lost the dogs that day, but he went out to find them in order to honor what the dogs had done for them, which was to try and save his life – a successful attempt. This sparked something in Jerry, and he gained a newfound determination to once again find a way to get back to the base and try to rescue those dogs.
After 133 days by themselves, there were five dogs remaining in one pack and one, who I believe was Max, that had wandered off as he had previously stayed behind with the lost dog that had fallen. It had been almost four and a half months since they had been left alone.
Jerry goes to a banquet set up for the doctor who had found the meteor, and congratulates him and tells him that he is going to New Zealand later that night in an effort to start up his search again for the dogs.
Later than night, at Dr. McClaren’s house, after tucking his son into bed, the doctor notices a picture that had been drawn by his son’s bed. It’s a picture of eight dogs and reads, “My Hero Is … The Dogs Who Saved My Daddy.” This prompts the doctor to figure something out, and out in New Zealand, as Jerry tries to find somebody who is willing to sail down, the doctor, Katie and Coop surprise him as they are ready to help him go back to the base to do what he feels he has to do.
Meanwhile, the dog that wandered off by himself, who again I believe was Max, meets up with the rest of the group, and they encounter a seal that was dining on some dead killer whale. Together, they manage to eat and get rid of the seal, but not before it had bitten one of Mya’s legs. She got up to eat, but became very weak after that and was not able to carry herself thereafter.
Jerry and his crew headed out via Katie’s plane to begin their journey. They land on a ship which will try and sail them for a portion of the way. Jerry finds out Katie broke up with her engineer boyfriend, and the viewer can easily grasp that a blooming romance that was toyed around with for most of the movie was beginning. Their plan hits a snag when the ship hits ice and is unable to move further. Coop comes up with the idea of flying to an Italian base, which he had met his girlfriend that nobody believed he had at, and they could use a vehicle there to go the rest of the way.
After 175 days, the six remaining dogs stay together very close to the base they had been left at, gathering some birds and leaving them by Mya who was being consoled very closely by Max, her partner on sleds. Jerry, Katie, the doctor and Coop do manage to get back to the base they left the dogs at 175 days prior using the Italian vehicle.
Jerry is at first upset to see that Jack was there, buried under feet of snow. Though not seeing the dog, he knew who it was. He figured they had all just remained there through the storm, but then lifted the row of chain up, and noticed that the other seven dogs were gone. That is when he sees five of the dogs coming towards him and realizes that they are still alive. The five that come towards him are Buck, Shorty, Truman, Max and Shadow. As they are getting set to leave, Max leads Jerry to Mya, who is at first believed to be dead, but awakens and is carried back to the plane by Jerry. The group, with the six dogs, heads back, after Jerry and Katie share a kiss, and the movie ends with a cross left in the snow and a message dedicating the movie to the artic explorers and their dogs whose courage inspired the film.
Spoiler Warning End
This movie is truly emotional and tests the courage of both people and animals put in conditions only nature can throw at them. Though at the surface this is a movie about a man in search of rescuing his dogs, it is a test of will and determination to stick together, conquer the impossible and survive when is it seems like there are other plans by those forces nobody can control.
The acting in the movie is tremendous. Of course, I am always amazed when dogs can put together performances that I saw in this movie, mostly because getting my dogs to sit is chore onto itself, let alone put together complicated sequences seen in Eight Below. The rest of the cast comes off playing their roles very well, with a realness that every actor should attain for.
Within the movie, I do feel there are some flaws. None hurt the movie greatly, but they do make the flow somewhat confusing. I found it difficult to keep track of which dog was which, despite varying colors and characteristics. The only dog that I could really remember throughout the film was Mya because of her gray color and constant leadership among the pack, but all the other dogs seemed to get lost in the shuffle despite their different characteristics. It was hard to keep track, and that became increasingly apparent as the film progressed. Location within Antarctica was also a tad confusing, as though it seemed like the dogs had stayed in a small area around the base, it did get a bit cloudy as to where exactly these dogs were.
Otherwise, the film was very sincere, very touching and had a simple plot that can be easily appreciated. It told a great story that delves deeper than just what is thrown right at you.
Video Quality
The video quality is pretty solid. Colors come out very well, and the harshness of the climate in Antarctica is very well depicted. My one problem is the wide screen ratio, which can be completely avoided by purchasing the full screen version of the DVD. With every wide screen presentation, there will be those black bars. But this ratio is absolutely killer, as the combined area of the black bars takes up more of the screen than the movie itself. Even while viewing on my wide screen TV the black bars were too much.
Score: 7.5
Audio Quality
I didn’t have a single problem with the sound. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound was great, and compositions along with dialogue came off without a hitch.
Score: 9
Special Features
Deleted Scenes All can be watched with or without audio commentary from director Frank Marshall
Breakfast At The Base - Jerry and Coop grab some breakfast at the base at the beginning of the film after leaving a sauna to going outside for a degree differential of 141 degrees. There’s some good, but minimal, humor here. 1:27
Russian Fish Hut - Jerry and the doctor, along with the dogs, stop at a hut on their way to Mount Melbourne for the night. They discuss why they’re going to their destination, which is for the meteor. This actually would have been a good and important scene to add into the final cut of the movie since this location seems to come slightly out of nowhere within the actual final cut of the film. 4:37
Jerry Wants To Stay - In the hospital room with Dr. McClaren, Jerry wants to stay as he is worried about his dogs. The rest of his crew try to convince him he can’t stay at the hospital in Antarctica. 1:17
Cooper Throws Up - What do you think happens here? Cooper throws up! 1:16
Jerry Meets Captain - Jerry and Dr. McClaren talk to the captain of the ship their plane landed on after leaving New Zealand, who wishes them success with their search for the dogs. :49
Running With The Dogs: The Making of Eight Below
This behind the scenes feature covers several areas of the film. It includes selection of the location for filming, with the man location being some place in Vancouver, with a secondary location in Greenland. This was because filming in Antarctica was expensive and just not really possible. They also talk about the dogs – their real life identities and the training process for the film. The feature also discusses the challenge of dealing with varying weather conditions while filming. 10:42
Audio Commentary
There are two sets of audio commentary for this film. One is with director Frank Marshall and producer Pat Crowley. The other is with director Frank Marshall, actor Paul Walker, and director of photography Don Burgess.
Sneak Peaks
There are sneak peaks for:
Leroy & Stitch, Brother Bear 2, High School Musical, The Fox and the Hound: 25th Anniversary Edition, The Little Mermaid Special Edition, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Shaggy Dog and AirBuddies
The 411: I really enjoyed this movie and felt that it was well told. There was a great story here, and the dogs and human cast played it to perfection. It was well acted, well shown, and completely worth a view.
