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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.
Re: :D
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!