Eight Below

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

Stranded sled dog movie. I want to go, but I'm afraid I'll either spend the whole time groaning over the sappiness or crying over the poor fuzzies in danger. Anybody seen it?

[sgt.null]

no, but julie has made me promise to rent it when it comes out on dvd. she loves doggies.

[dANdeLION]

EIGHT BELOW

Domestic Total as of Feb. 22, 2006: $27,916,566

Well, somebody must have seen it.....

[sgt.null]

America rejects gay cowboys for stranded sled dogs.

there is a lesson there.

[Cail]

Do you blame them?

Then again, Brokeback has worked it's way into nearly everything we do at work....Nobody knows how to quit anyone anymore.

[Fist and Faith]

Is 8 supposed to be a true story? I read it's about a dogsled team abandoned in Antarctica for six months, and they survive. If it's a true story, I'm wondering how they know any specific events. Was Dr. Doolittle on hand to interview the dogs? And if so, did they all tell the same story? Dogs are notorious for trying to look good in front of humans. "I was the alpha. I kept us alive." "No! I was the alpha! They'd all be dead if not for me!" "You two are liars. As alpha, the decisions I had to make will haunt me the rest of my life." But maybe all the dogs' stories were pretty much the same in all other regards.

[Prom_STar]

I just saw this film today. To be honest, I was surprised. It's no cynamatic tour de force or anything like that, but it is a good movie. It's definitley a disney movie--and one does wonder how much they messed with. But it was just a good movie. Makes you feel good and all that fun stuff.

[sgt.null]

Fist: great post.

i can imagine the interior dialogue of the dogs.

"hungry, need to pee, hungry, the MAN is never coming back, hungry, need to sniff his butt."

of course that's in the first two minutes...

[matrixman]

I want to go, but I'm afraid I'll either spend the whole time groaning over the sappiness or crying over the poor fuzzies in danger.

Yeah, same here.

Is 8 supposed to be a true story? I read it's about a dogsled team abandoned in Antarctica for six months, and they survive.

I don't know anything about this story, true or otherwise, but all I can say right now is that whoever was the moron that abandoned those dogs out there in the first place should be forced to go naked in Antarctica. Then again, what with global warming trends, the south polar region could be nicely tropical before you know it. Mind you, that might mean coastal cities elsewhere are under 10 feet of melted ice water, but I digress...

[sgt.null]

this isn't the one with Cuba Gooding jr?

[Prom_STar]

They didn't intend to abandon the dogs. They're a research team in Antartica and they had to evacuate their people because one had frostbite, the other a broken leg. They couldn't take the dogs so they left them--intending to come back and get the dogs only a few hours later (they were flying, btw). However, bad weather cancels their flightplans and thus the dogs are left to fend for themselves.
In all fairness, the dogs did sleep outside. They're obviously capable of taking care of themselves--they survived after all.

Spoiler

well, most of 'em at least.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

I did finally go see it. Didn't cry, but my girlfriend and half of the other people in the theatre did. Can't blame 'em, I guess. I'd have been sobbing too, if it were horses. Not a spectacular movie, but better than I expected.

This movie was "suggested" by a Japanese movie based on what actually happened to, as I understand it, a Japanese dog team in the late 1950s. www.imdb.com/title/tt0085991/plotsummary

[matrixman]

I finally read a review of Eight Below in my local newspaper. The opinion of the reviewer was that this is a no-frills, old-school Disney movie that relies on direct emotional pull (along the lines of a genre classic like The Black Stallion) rather than tons of visual effects. Sounds refreshing!

The review also mentioned that Japanese film. Apparently the original is a more harrowing and elemental story that's been toned down by Disney for this new version.

this isn't the one with Cuba Gooding jr?

Okay, finally found out what you were referencing. No thanks, I didn't bother to see Snow Dogs. Has Cuba Gooding Jr. starred in anything good at all after Jerry Maguire?

[Avatar]

Apparently the original is a more harrowing and elemental story that's been toned down by Disney for this new version.

Disney sucks.

--A

[sgt.null]

Matrix: Cuba has consistantly made horrible movies since his Oscar. he may have to start refunding movie goers soon.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

Ironically, I saw Sled Dogs just a few days after seeign Eight Below. Even knowing it was a goofy movie, and having seen it before, I couldn't help but wonder what the point of making it had been. To top it off, as I watched the credits, I noticed that the movie had been "suggested" by Gary Paulsen's Winterdance, a wonderful autobiographical sled dog book by the author of Hatchet and The River (young adult survival stories). It's been a few years since I read the book, but near as I can figure, the only similarities between the book and the movie are the fact that both lead characters are new to sled dogs racing, and the VW Beetle the dogs pull. If you have any interest in the subject, read Winterdance. I tell you, it's absolutely nothing like the movie.

[Avatar]

...by the author of Hatchet and The River (young adult survival stories).

Hey, I remember those. Enjoyed them at the time.

--A