Eight Below
Review
by Clint Morris
There’s
a reason Paul Walker is usually
listed “eight below” the likes of Keanu Reeves,
Christian
Bale and Josh Duhamel (you don’t have to have a more
recognisable
name, to be more in-demand) on every filmmaker’s casting
wish-list: He’s always overshadowed by someone or something
in
his films.
The likeable young actor is usually always
remembered
for merely making up one of the stitches in the cinematic quilt rather
than being the central piece. In his breakthrough film, The
Fast and the Furious he was overshadowed by Vin Diesel and a
squadron of muscle cars, in Into the Blue
it was a bikini-clad Jessica Alba and a tropical locale that stayed in
the viewers’ minds, and in Varsity Blues
he was overshadowed by – god help him – James Van
Der Beek.
In his latest film, the
icy-sounding Eight Below –
or 2 Cold, 2 Freezing
as I may jokily refer to it – it’s the eight
cuter-than-cute
sled dogs with amazing acting abilities that steal the show. By golly,
if these vibrant huskies don’t perform their wagging tongues
off
in the film, leaving one to wonder not only whom the film's headline
act
is, and who might be accepted into acting school first – the
dogs
or Walker. No offence to Walker, he’s a likeable screen
presence
and can definitely hold his own here, but it might be time to step up
his game, especially now that the doggie talent school is unleashing
their most gifted grads.
Solid Disney entertainment
– the
likes of which you just don’t see anymore, even too often
from
Disney, who’re more interested in pouring money into drivel
like Herbie: Fully Loaded or any other
umpteenth Lindsay Lohan bubblegum bore – Eight
Below
takes eight adorable creatures, mixes in an amazing Antarctic backdrop,
and a pleasant bit of eye candy (that’s your role
Walker) to help steer the heart-warming back home.
Walker
plays Jerry, an
Antarctic explorer who is forced to leave his beloved sled dogs behind
when a vicious storm hits his post. The plan is to come back for the
dogs once they’ve got room in the plane – but that
doesn’t happen, naturally.
Once the dogs
realise that
they’re on their own, they break from their chains and head
out
into the snowy alps – looking for food, shelter, and
basically
trying to stay out of harm’s way. Meantime, a disheartened
Jerry
comes with a plan to head back in and rescue his pups.
There
aren’t a lot of good family films about –
especially ones
that the littlies will enjoy as much as the biggies.
Therefore, Eight Below
will be more welcome than milk in coffee, for some. It’s also one
of
the better efforts that Disney has produced in some time too, fixing
more on story than special effects, and firmly planted a lot more in
reality than the usual fluff they serve up to the family demographic.
Having
said that, the film will still draw it’s fair share of sceptics
–
I’m guessing it’ll be the all-knowing fathers in
the
audience – who’ll argue that firstly, dogs
wouldn’t
be able to survive that long in the freezing Antarctic (and truth is,
they probably wouldn’t. In fact, in the Japanese film that
this
one is based on, which is the ‘true story’, seven
of nine
dogs died) and secondly, that an Antarctic winter is mostly in darkness
– an eternal darkness, if you will. Instead, this Antarctica
seems to be sunny all-day.
But
ya’ know what? Screw that. This is Disney. And when family
films
are this good, a couple of liberties can easily be overlooked. Swallow
your tongue, reattach your warm-and-fuzzy bone, and pop along to see
one of the year’s most heart-warming and entertaining
adventures.
3.5 out of 5
Eight
Below
Australian release: 20th
April, 2006
Cast:Paul
Walker, Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood
Director: Frank
Marshall
Website:
Click
here.
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