A well made action adventure based on a true story “Eight Below” chronicles the adventure of 4 men who trek back to an Antarctica station where a dog sled team has to be abandoned due to a vicious storm to save the life of the dogs. Although an action adventure like this wouldn’t lend itself to strong performances and even necessarily to well written characters we get both from a mix of top notch veterans (Bruce Greenwood of “Nowhere Man” and “The Core”), star Paul Walker, (“The Fast and The Furious”), Jason Biggs (“American Pie”) and Moon Bloodgood. Like “Never Cry Wolf” another Disney adventure set among the coldest reaches of the world this is a marvelous adventure that adults and children can enjoy together. I should warn parents, however, that there is some mild bad language and the action sequences might be appropriate for children under the age of 6. Filmed befo re by the Japanese as “Antarctica” I can recommend this family orientated action adventure movie. Usually the term family orientated action adventure movie is an oxymoron. That’s not the case with this finely crafted film. ---

Image & Sound:

I warmed up to this movie immediately as the colors are right on target and the blacks deep and rich. There is some occasional mild edge enhancement but the DVD transfer manages to capture much of the detail and remarkable clarity of the theatrical version of the film. The 5.1 mix isn’t very active during the opening sequences of the film as they are mostly dialogue driven but once the adventure begins things pick up and we get an active 5.1 mix that will make you want to put on a jacket as you hear the blizzard surround you. ---

Including two good commentary tracks the best of the two features actor Paul Walker, Marshall and DP Burgess. We’ll start with the second one first although there are the usual observations about making the film but the interaction of the three is truly what makes this one enjoyable. Sure we get trivia about the making of the film but it’s all in the presentation here. The first track featuring Marshall and producer Crowley discuss much more of the production minutia and will be the most interesting of the two for film buffs. While Marshall and Crowley’s track lacks the el ement of fun of the second commentary track it’s much more devoted to the rigors of shooting the film and challenges of shooting on location. While there is some overlap of the information they are actually quite complimentary. ***

Frank Marshall provides a introduction during the menu (a unique approach) for the five deleted scenes included. You can either way the deleted scenes with or without commentary tracks. Marshall justifies his reasons for cutting the film and it’s clear that his decisions made sense for the film. ***

We also get a solid if predictable “making of” featurette that was designed as a promo piece for the Disney Channel. There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and some interesting trivia including the fact that they shot the film 800 miles north of Vancouver close enough to civilization to make the production viable but far enough away so that the landscape resembled the treeless environment of Antarctica. That’s not to imply they weren’t subject to the elements they were near a small town that derives most of its income from skiers. This featurette will be of interest to older kids and adults. ---

Final Words: