Eight Below

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Eight Below
Image:Eight below.jpg Promotional poster for Eight Below
Directed by	Frank Marshall
Written by	David DiGilio
Starring	Paul Walker Bruce Greenwood Jason Biggs Moon Bloodgood
Cinematography	Don Burgess
Editing by	Christopher Rouse
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date(s)	February 17, 2006
Running time	120 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Eight Below is a Walt Disney Pictures film directed by Frank Marshall and written by David DiGilio, which was released on February 17, 2006 in the United States. It was rated PG for some peril and brief mild language.

1 Background
2 Plot
3 Sled dogs
- 3.1 Buck
- 3.2 Dewey
- 3.3 Maya
- 3.4 Max
- 3.5 Old Jack
- 3.6 Shadow
- 3.7 Shorty
- 3.8 Truman
4 Wildlife in movie
5 Critics
6 Trivia
7 Mistakes
8 DVD release date
9 External links

[edit] Background

The 1958 ill-fated Japanese expedition to Antarctica inspired the 1983 hit movie Nankyoku Monogatari. Eight Below is the fictional re-interpretation of the true events of the 1958 occurrence.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Jerry Shepherd (Paul Walker) is a guide at an Antarctica research base under contact with the National Science Foundation. UCLA professor, Dr. Davis McLaren (Bruce Greenwood) arrives at the base and presses Shepherd to take him to Mount Melbourne to attempt to find a rare meteorite from the planet Mercury. Shepherd does so against his own intuition, which tells him that it is too late in the season (January) to complete such a treacherous route. Worried about the snowmobiles breaking through the thinning ice or falling in a crevasse, Shepherd elects to use his dog sled team for the journey.

Shepherd and McLaren make it to Mount Melbourne but are immediately called back to base camp due to an approaching storm. McLaren begs for half a day to search for the meteorite and Shepherd agrees. McLaren finds the sample he is looking for and the team heads home.

Shepherd pauses to patch up one of the dogs (Old Jack) whose paw is bleeding. McLaren, while walking around to get a better radio connection with base, slides down an embankment when a soft ledge gives way. His landing at the bottom cracks the thin ice and McLaren ends up breaking through. Shepherd is able to get his lead dog Maya to get a rope to McLaren and the dog team pulls him from the water.

Now, battling hypothermia, frostbite and near whiteout conditions, it is the dogs' stamina and keen sense of direction that gets Shepherd and McClaren back to base. They are immediately evacuated, along with all other personnel due to the storm, which is expected to intensify. With too much weight in the plane to carry both people and dogs, the human team medically evacuates Shepherd and McLaren with a plan to return later for the dogs. The dogs are temporarily left behind, but the storm is worse than expected and it soon becomes apparent that no rescue will be attempted until the next spring.

The dogs must struggle for survival alone in the Antarctic wilderness until Shepherd eventually returns to rescue them, more than six months later. Six of the eight dogs survive. The two who die are Dewey and Old Jack with the six survivors being Buck, Max, Maya, Shadow, Shorty and Truman.

The turning point in the film is the moment when McLaren sees a drawing of the dog team by his young son, with the label: "My Hero is... THE DOGS WHO SAVED MY DADDY." The professor realizes the magnitude of his ingratitude and uses the remaining balance of his grant money to finance a rescue mission.

^{Then the professor says that he will take him to his dogs.}

[edit] Sled dogs

Main article: Sled dog

In the 1958 event, fifteen Sakhalin Husky sled dogs were involved. In Eight Below, eight dogs were used -- two Alaskan Malamutes, Buck and Shadow, plus six Siberian Huskies. Many more dogs were needed to act out difficult scenes; each actor-dog had help from other dogs who performed stunts and pulled sleds. In all, 32 dogs were used to portray the film's eight canine characters.[1]

[edit] Buck

The spirited, red-headed Buck comes to life through the work of the cast's quickest learner Conan and Flapjack, a strapping six year-old, who is also the biggest dog on the movie, weighing in at over 120 pounds. Conan and Flapjack performed both the acting and sledding for Buck.

[edit] Dewey

One of the close-knit twins in the pack, is portrayed by four-year-old Floyd, a veteran pro who, when not starring in movies such as Snow Dogs, is one of the regulars at the Universal Animal Show in Florida. His sledding double was two-year-old Ryan. Dewey can be told from Truman by a scar over his left eye, given to him by his aforementioned brother.

[edit] Maya

The strong and maternal Alpha leader of the pack is played by seven year-old Koda Bear, star of such films as Snow Dogs. She is known to her trainers as The Princess due to the fact that she has her own entourage and will not go anywhere without her special blanket. She was almost passed up for the part because the filmmakers originally wanted a white dog, but she won over the filmmakers and became one of Frank Marshall's favorites. Also starring as Maya is the equally beautiful seven-year-old Jasmine, who always gets very serious whenever she is playing a film role. Their sledding double was Kalista, herself a long time Alpha sled dog; like her character, she helped to keep all the other dogs out of trouble during the filming. She is also a Siberian Husky.

[edit] Max

The young sled-dog who starts out in the back of the pack but becomes a heroic leader in the course of the incredible adventures of Eight Below is played by six-year-old D.J., a playful, happy-go-lucky natural born movie star who previously starred in the canine hit Snow Dogs. D.J. impressed his trainers and director Frank Marshall with his uncanny improvisational skills and always brought an extra dash of drama to his scenes as Max. D.J's sledding double is one-year-old Timba, who was an on-set favorite due to an exceptionally cuddly nature.

[edit] Old Jack

The oldest dog in the pack, Old Jack is played by a relative youngster, four-year-old Apache. Apache developed a particular love of helicopter rides during the making of Eight Below. Old Jack's sledding work was performed by Buck, an all-white dog previously seen in Snow Dogs, who underwent a dye job to match Apache.Old Jack died right on the base where their trainer lived and their friends.

[edit] Shadow

Starring as the silvery, sleek Shadow are Noble, a three-year-old canine actor known for really getting into character, and four-year-old Troika, famous for her beautiful howling voice. Both did all the acting and all the sledding for their roles.

[edit] Shorty

The all-brawn-and-too-few-brains rebel dog, Shorty, is played by equally playful, all-white, three-year-old Jasper, who was especially excited to star in Eight Below because he quickly discovered snow is his favorite thing in the world. Jasper's sledding double was the tenacious Yukon, who never seemed to tire of pulling the sled.

[edit] Truman

Truman, Dewey's identical brother, is portrayed by three-year-old Sitka, whose favorite things in life include slices of Canadian Duck and frequent belly rubs. Her sledding and action double was five-year-old Chase, known to the trainers as the big goof ball. Chase graciously underwent a regular dye job to look more like Sitka.[2]

[edit] Wildlife in movie

[edit] Critics

Reviews, in general, were mixed. Roger Ebert from Chicago Sun-Times liked the film, and said "Eight Below succeeds as an effective story." <ref>[3]</ref> BBC liked the movie as well, but did not like its long length. <ref>[4]</ref> Reel.com liked it, saying "the movie succeeds at drawing you into their incredible adventure". <ref>[5]</ref> However, the San Fransisco Chronicle disliked the film, saying "The movie is overly long and much too intense for small children, yet it's filled with dialogue and plot turns that are too juvenile to thrill adult audiences."<ref>[6]</ref>

[edit] Trivia

As of August 27, 2006, the film had grossed a total of $81.6 million in the United States and an additional $38.8 million in other countries. [7]
The Dogs Dewey and Truman are named for the 1948 U.S. Presidential candidates Thomas E. Dewey and Harry S. Truman [8].
The snow tractor that the crew borrows from the Italians is named "Mare Biscotto", which translates to "Sea Biscuit", the film director Frank Marshall produced [9].
It was rated PG for another reason -- the jump scene when the leopard seal pops out of the dead killer whale.
The movie was filmed in Smithers, British Columbia.

[edit] Mistakes

It should be dark all day during the Antarctic winter.
It should be daylight most of the time during the southern-hemisphere January summer.
Sled dogs are no longer being used in Antarctica.
Throughout the film, the yellow and red De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter emits piston-engine noises. But the plane used in the filming is turbine-powered, as evidenced by the long, slender nose and the large, single exhaust pipe protruding from beneath the cowling on the right side of the aircraft.
Instead of the Siberian Huskies and Malamutes in the film, the 1958 Japanese expedition used another type of sled dog, the Sakhalin Husky.
Of the fifteen sled dogs in the 1958 Japanese expedition, only two survived ('Taro' and 'Jiro').
"Sea Biscuit" in Italian is not "Mare Biscotto" but "Biscotto di Mare" or "Biscotto Marino."