EIGHT BELOW

In Frank Marshall's family adventure, eight sled dogs attached to an Antarctic research facility are abandoned during an evacuation. While their trainer (Paul Walker) pines for them back in States, the plucky dogs make do through the long winter. The film is reputedly based on true events, though nobody can know for sure what the dogs did on their lonesome. There's a good chance they didn't form leadership councils as they do here, express baying admiration for the aurora borealis or neglect to turn on one another (hey, survival isn't cute). There's not enough story to pad this overly long film, and the scientifically minded will be outraged at the liberties taken. Still, the dogs are beautiful, as is the scenery (shot in Canada and Greenland), and who doesn't like a doggie story with a happy ending? (AH)