furtech | "8 Below"

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"8 Below"

I went to see "Eight Below" tonight .

I went into this knowing that it would be nothing like the film it was based on ( "Nankyoku monogatari" aka "Antarctica" ). That film is amazing and more raw--a real tear jerker. I wondered just -how- much they Disney-fied the original.

Overall, I got what I wanted: typical Disney fare that is both sappy and relatively enjoyable. Along the lines of "The Incredible Journey" or "Thomasina". The filmmakers at least did a decent amount of research. They got a few things terribly wrong but to me they weren't hugely noticeable mistakes. Without spoilers: the science expedition was barely believable; what's with all the daylight?; and when winter's setting in, the ice doesn't get thinner! The dogs were anthropomorphized but far less than I expected. I could see what they based the behaviors on-- the anthropomorphizing was essentially to shortcut/make more obvious how the dogs survived. They also didn't show what was probaby the dogs' main food source during that time-- penguins-- because they're too cute to be seen torn apart by hungry huskies I guess.

The dogs were gorgeous and probably the best actors in the movie. And again without giving out spoilers, not all of them survive which was both poignant and somewhat surprising (I dreaded Disney totally sappifying the story.

Bottom line: if you want to see wonderful icy scenery and lots of huskies, go see it. If you want sophisticated stories or realistic survival epics, skip it.

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I want to go see it just because I <3 dogs. The heck with ice scenery - bring on the nice dogs. ^^

And this film is far less heart-wrenchingly tragic than the film it was based on-- though I highly recommend the original if you have the time. "Antarctica" is a powerful film with a great Vangelis score.

I guess the original would be the one I don't show my tender-hearted kids, who also <3 dogs, and would be crying all night.

I've read that the true story this is based on involved 9 dogs, 7 of which actually didn't make it... T_T

Actually, if you read the "user comments" for "Nankyoku monogatari", many of them saw this when they were 10 or 11 and it affected them greatly. Read their comments and decide if you want to show them. There is no on-screen death, but you know what happens and it's the skill of the filmmakers that delivers the message.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085991/usercomments

I read that. Not sure if *I* can see the Japanese movie without crying my eyes out. :(

We just came back from seeing Eight Below. (It needs less of the actors cluttering up the screen! More dog footage!) What gorgeous dogs, even though you just know some of things they do in the movie would not have been THEIR ideas.

(In January, when the movie begins, it's not that long after "midsummer down-under", and there should almost continuous daylight in Antarctica. By midwinter (late June) it should be dark pretty much 24 hours. The ice generally reaches its thinnest in December, and March is the onset of winter when the big "growth season" for the ice begins, so my guess is that for the purposes of the movie some ice in January could possibly be thinning for a bit due to a warm front... but the continent triples in size from frozen seawater in winter. And yeah; what's with all the sun in August?)

I kept reassuring my anxious and teary 11-year-old all through the movie that nothing bad actually happened to these doggie actors, the very fact that they were on film meant people were with them to take care of them, etc. etc.

And then after the movie my 15-year-old (who had to take an open seat a few seats away) comes over and SHE'S crying her eyes out. :/

Younger daughter said the theater should put tissue boxes out for dog lovers who see this movie.

Now that we're home, the corgi-children are getting loads of love and attention...

Yeah, very powerful, wonderful film. Now I just have to find out if it's out in the US (with an English dub).

Re: dogs/8Below-- yes, the anthropomorphizing was a little obvious, but I guess the director chose not to have a voice-over describing the actions of the dogs. Nothing wrong with that, but it meant that the actions of the dogs needed to be more obvious (hence the over-acting dogs!). I did like that the catalyst for the first dog breaking its chain was the flag blowing away! Just like a husky: starving to death? Eh. Flag-runny-thing-blowing-away: Chasechasechase!

And I did like how the character of the dog Max developed. Very sweet.

... I had totally forgotten Antarctica - now I'll have to track it down and see it again.

Totally agree with you. And I loved it. I want to see it again :)

Totally unrelated note, but I was thinking about you last night ... did you happen to catch the season finale of Monk? Monk was selected for jury duty ... The time spent in the jury room was limited because it was only half the story going on in the episode, so you didn't catch all the details of that case, but within about 30 seconds I realized that they were doing totally doing a ripoff/homage to 12 Angry Men. There were a few differences ... Monk was Juror 11 instead of 7 ... but a lot of the elements were there ... the case involved a stabbing attack and one key eye-witness ... the foreman insisting everyone sit in order by juror number, "it's customary to take a preliminary vote" by "secret ballot" ... the foreign juror commenting on the legal system, the hardass dislikable juror, the calculating logical character eventually won over ... "I suggest we take another vote ..." "I say we go in and declare a hung jury" ... "Alright, you've convinced me ..." and of course, the preliminary vote being 11-1 and ultimately ending 1-11.

I don't know how many people are familiar enough with 12 Angry Men that they would have recognized it, but it was cracking me up.

(I'm assuming you're familiar with the movie. I could be confused tho.)

I usually catch Monk in reruns or when they show a bunch at once...there are very few regular shows I actually tune in for (one too many things to remember). I love the idea of Monk in the 12 Angry Men spoof: did they play it straight or spoof it up?

Hmmmmm. I'd say they played the case itself fairly straight ... the case they were deliberating seemed like a legitimate one ... although because of the limited time and the detached nature of the case (the case itself wasn't important, but the fact that Monk was serving on a jury tied in to the other, main storyline that was going on) required that the characters and reactions were simplified and sped up a bit. For example, the whole "You've made some excellent points ..." to "Alright, you've convinced me, not guilty" conversion of the logical character was there, but very quick, almost tokenized. It was almost like watching a "play within a play" version of the movie.

I guess the end result was that anyone who hasn't seen 12 Angry Men would see a bunch of passable dialogue that looked like a legitimate case going on, but anyone familiar with it would recognize it and be amused by it.

Ahah ... the episode is already available on iTunes for $2. :D

I get teary-eyed just watching the trailer, so I think I'll wait until it comes to DVD so I can sob like the sap I am in the privacy of my own home.... :D
I never heard of "Antarctica" but it sounds like a beautiful movie, if I can watch it through my tear-stained eyes.... :)
(I'm SUCH a sap when it comes to dogs...!)

Dogs are worth it. I wonder if I can bear to watch that movie myself... ;_;

By the sound of it I might give it a miss and try and find the original 'Antarctica'.

I am not too keen on remakes ,especially by Disney.

You're going to have a very short list of available entertainment if you refuse to watch any "remakes".

From this site which talks about the true story and the various types of huskies & sled dogs...

http://www.babayaga.ca/2006/02/so-you-want-siberian-husky-eight-below.html

If this image shows up - here's a photo of a pack of statues of the dogs (of the 1957 expedition) which is located outside Tokyo Tower:

Look! Bios of the dog actors from "Eight Below" are included in the Wikipedia listing! :D

*hugs the nice dogs*
*throws tennis balls & antarctic station flags* :p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Below

Great link! Love the bios of the dogs: I've known huskies who fit many of the quirks they list of the actor-dogs. Except that she didn't like film shoots, took ages to train and liked to be the only dog around, Frieda could have been a star! At least, she loved running through the snow...

I love that the main dogs had their stunt (work) doubles! Anyone who follows sled dog events could see which dogs LOVED to pull and which ones were posers (like Frieda would have been): in the big pulling sequences, you can actually see loose lines on a couple of the dogs. The pullers' lines are so taught that they sing!

Better than the other husky movie they did a few years ago ah...? I sure am glad to have your opinion... movie going is 'spensive!

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"8 Below"

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;_;

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What Sakhalin Huskies

:D

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