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Eight Below
Theatrical Release: February 17, 2006 / Running Time: 120 Minutes / Rating: PG
DVD Details
2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French, Spanish)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish; Closed Captioned
Release Date: June 20, 2006
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
The Movie
Following in the grand tradition of live action animal-centric Disney films, Eight Below follows the plight of eight sled dogs left in Antarctica during one of the harshest winters recorded. Loosely based on a true story, Antarctica guide and sled team owner Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) is forced to leave his beloved team behind when an expedition goes wrong and is unable to return to the camp for months. He never gives up the hope that his team somehow survived the harsh conditions and finally is able to return later after he finds funding and transportation for the long journey back. The film is structured very simply; how will the dogs survive and how will Jerry get back to his canine pals?
© Disney.
Eight Below, released in theaters in early February 2006, was apparently considered a modest Disney feature; not a whole lot of hype or promotion surrounded the film. However, boosted by positive critical reviews, the picture went on to make Disney a lot of money and ended up one of the top box office draws of the year so far. I think the film’s success lies in its utter simplicity. It focuses on the true stars of the film—the beautiful huskies and malamutes that make up the sled team—and films them without a lot of CGI-heavy effects. Thankfully, there is no forced background narration or talking animals in Eight Below. Often times there is only the score quietly playing as the as the camera follows the animals, and the dogs more than carry it off. In fact, one might be tempted to fast forward through the “people” scenes to get back to the sled team’s story.
From a parent’s perspective, this movie has several very sad moments and at least one pretty scary scene involving a toothy seal bursting out of hiding. However, there is nothing overtly gory or violent in the film, so it will depend on the sensitivity of your own kids to determine whether it’s a good viewing choice. My 9-year-old was bored with the non-dog scenes and sad over some of the tragic things that happened to some of the sled dogs. However, my older child happily sniffled her way through the film.
See Alex Stroup’s February 16 review of the movie from its original theatrical release here.
The Goodies
The goodies are not overwhelmingly great, but the two commentaries contain a lot of information about the making of the film and should keep real fans of the film happy for several hours.
“The making of Eight Below“(10:40) – Director Frank Marshall is the main commentator on this featurette It’s a brief but interesting behind the scenes look at the film. As with the entire DVD, the emphasis is on the dogs—the trainers, the logistics of traveling with the animals, and the many stunt dogs also used on camera. For each dog character on the screen, at least three doubles were used for various tasks during filming. That’s a lot of dogs on location—no wonder everyone interviewed for the making of featurette and on the commentary can’t seem to stop talking about them.
Deleted Scenes
© Disney.
Five deleted scenes are included in the bonuses, with optional commentary by Frank Marshall as to why they were cut from the final film. All the scenes are pretty complete, though very short and mainly cut to move the story forward more quickly.
Commentary
The Eight Below DVD contains two commentaries. The first one is with Frank Marshall and producer Pat Crowley, who mainly talk about locations, challenges with filming particular scenes, weather issues and dogs, dogs, dogs. Marshall does most of the talking, but at times it’s difficult to distinguish Crowley’s voice from Marshall’s. I suppose it doesn’t really matter in the long run as long as the information is interesting, but at times it was distracting trying to figure out just who was speaking. There’s a lot of technical information in this commentary, but Marshall knows his stuff and keeps it interesting.
The second commentary is with Marshall again, this time with Paul Walker and Don Burgess, the cinematographer. Some of the commentary is with Walker and Marshall alone and some of it is just Marshall and Burgess. The sections with Walker are more anecdotal and relaxed, and Marshall once more takes a director’s role by leading the commentary by asking Walker how he prepared for certain scenes and what he was feeling during the difficult or emotional sections of the film. For true technical film buffs this commentary will not be as informational, but I found it very interesting hearing about the step by step process of the actors developing bonds with the dogs and the little silly details about personalities that make one feel they are hearing audio commentary from People magazine. Call me shallow, but I liked the second commentary better; however, both are very good.
Interface
The interface is quite detailed, with clips from the movie on one side of the screen, and a map with cities marked as menu options. A little dotted line forms as though a map is being charted from one option to another while the score plays. The secondary menus are still images, but overall I felt the interface was given more attention than usual.
Audio and Video
The visuals in Eight Below are stunning, and the 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen translates very well to the small screen. Both the audio and video quality are extremely high on this DVD. I have read that snow is hard to photograph and often does not translate well to screen, but no such problems exist in this film.
The Final Evaluation
Eight Below is not going to replace Old Yeller in the live action cannon, but it is miles ahead of the Air Bud series and light years ahead of the execrable Snow Dogs. As a parent, I would recommend Eight Below to children 10 and over due to some of the intense scenes, or else be ready to fast forward a bit. While I would have liked to have seen more bonus features on this DVD, I feel it is a pretty good value. The film is a worthwhile addition to anyone’s live action Disney collection and a must for any dog lover.
