Movie Review--Eight Below

This was a great Disney movie. Okay, so the director altered the original incident on which this story was based in order to give it a happier ending, but one doesn't go to movies for a starkly depressing reality; at least I don't. It's based on a 1983 Japanese movie, which was based on an actual incident which occurred in 1958.

In this story, set in 1993, a dogsled team of eight dogs is left alone in the Antarctic when the humans have to beat a hasty retreat. One person had a broken leg, another had severe frostbite, and there was a bad storm. They intend to go back for the dogs, but the weather is too severe, and since it is the start of winter down there, the weather would remain severe for months.

The guide, Jerry, (Paul Walker) is absolutely distraught but is unable to get back to Antarctica for nearly six months. I could identify with his angst. I know if I had to leave my cats somewhere where they probably wouldn't survive on their own, I would be inconsolable. Jerry clearly loved his dogs.

One of the best scenes in the movie occurs before they actually leave, when a scientist falls through the ice and Maya, the leader of the dogsled team, helps Jerry rescue him. It is the fact that the dogs saved his life that finally gets the scientist to help Jerry return to Antarctica.

There aren't really any surprises here. You know at the start of the movie that all or most of the dogs will survive, but the story is still good. It's a lot better than what really happened in 1958; then seven of the nine dogs died (though I was amazed that any could live through that). Much of the focus is on the dogs and how they help each other survive. I don't know how realistic that is, but of course I believe that animals care for and help each other.

We had our own little drama a week ago here, when one of my cats jumped down behind some plastic file boxes. She was pretty much trapped, because the sides of the boxes were too smooth for her to gain a foothold to climb out, and she had so little room back there that I don't think she would have been able to get into the right position to jump out. But the other cat caught my attention, because she was frantically pawing at the carpet on the other side, trying to rescue the first cat. It cracked me up, but I was glad I was home and she didn't have to be trapped there too long (and that the other cat didn't damage the carpet). I moved the boxes so that they are now flush against the wall and there is no room to get between them and the wall.

Anyway, not quite as dramatic as being in the Antarctic, but I feel safer knowing that I have a rescue kitty living with me.