Kent's review: Eight Below

Directed by Frank Marshall and based on a 1983 Japanese film about a true 1957 story, “Eight Below” is the tale of eight sled dogs left alone in Antarctica for weeks after a storm forces the scientific teams off the cold continent at the bottom of the world.

Set in 1993, the last year that sled dogs were allowed in Antarctica, the picture is a story of friendship, responsibility and survival that turns the eight huskies, and their stunt doubles, into stars equal to, if not greater than, their human counterparts.

At the center of the picture is Paul Walker, who plays Jerry Shepard, the survival guide at a U.S. scientific outpost. His job is to take visiting scientists where they need to go and make sure they get back in one piece. His best human pal is Charlie Cooper (Jason Biggs), a goofy cartographer. He’s also pining for pilot Katie (Moon Bloodgood).

But his greatest attachment is to his team of eight dogs — lead dog Maya, new pup Max, the aging Old Jack, twins Truman and Dewey, all brawn, no brains Shorty, the spirited Buck and the howler Shadow. A close-knit bunch, the team will do anything for Jerry, and he for the team.

At the close of the season UCLA geologist Davis McLaren (Bruce Greenwood) comes to the outpost to search for a meteorite. But because the mountain where the meteorite is believed to be is across a giant ice floe, Jerry can’t use a snowmobile to get Davis to the site. Instead, the dogs have to go to work, beginning the adventure that covers the rest of the well-paced film.

After making the dangerous journey, a winter storm brews up and the team is ordered back to the relatively safety of the outpost. Before they can make it back, however, Davis falls down a ravine, breaks his leg and crashes through the ice. Freezing to death in the water and subzero temperatures, Davis is rescued by Maya, who crawls across the thin ice with a rope and loops it around his head and shoulder.

Then she leads the team on a determined race across the ice and snow, getting the injured Davis and frostbitten Jerry back to safety.

Katie has a plane ready to evacuate them and the other members of the team. But there isn’t enough room aboard to take the dogs. So they are left chained together with spikes in the ice to prevent them from running off, waiting for a return plane to take them away.

But the weather closes in, flights are banned and the dogs inadvertently are left, seemingly to die of exposure, starvation or both. But Maya and her team won’t go down that easy. First rowdy little Max shakes off his collar. Then a couple of others get free.

Soon enough, the huskies have freed themselves. Now, they just have to survive until Jerry can get back for them. What no one could have anticipated is that it would be months before he could return.

So while we watch Jerry try to get a rescue team together, we’re also watching the dogs survive. In that process, they develop discernable screen personalities, often heroic and self-sacrificing. There are a few scares, most notably from a vicious leopard seal. But there’s nothing too frightening or heart-rending. “Eight Below” is PG rated and is a fine family film.

“Eight Below” is the kind of movie that critics aren’t supposed to like. It is sentimental and predictable — they’re not going to make this picture if the dogs all die. But, for me, that was part of its appeal.

With Walker, Biggs, Bloodgood and Greenwood all delivering believable performances, the human story line holds up just fine. But the real hook of the picture is the dogs, many of which are actual sled dogs. It’s always fun to see an animal movie in which its well-trained stars have high adventure — that is is certainly the case here.

And Marshall and his crew make a Canadian glacier look very much like Antarctica, giving the film a chilly authenticity. That makes the action all the more believable and creates the dynamic thrust behind the need to save the canine heroes.

By today’s standards, “Eight Below” is a modest little picture. There is a limited use of effects — the seal isn’t real. There are no big stars, no huge hype, no attempt at deep meaning. Instead, Marshall and company have told a good story and let the dogs steal the show. That’s an irresistible combination.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.