"8 Below"

[furtech]

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.

Comments

;_;

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

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...

Re: ;_;

[furtech.livejournal.com]

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.