Pros: Teaches children that there is another side of dogs that they have not seen.
Cons: Some scenes might be a little graphic for young children.
The Bottom Line: This movie will keep you wondering and asking yourself how did they do that.
Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot. If you love dogs, the way I do you will not want to miss this movie. This movie stars Paul Walker playing the part of Jerry Shepherd, a guide in the Antartica. He is supposed to take Davis McLaren, a scientist (played by Bruce Greenwood) to find a piece of a meteorite that has crashed to earth in Melbourne. Their mode of transportation is an eight dog sled team, they were pulled by six Siberian Husky dogs and two malamute dogs. The names of these dogs are Maya, Jack, Shorty, Max, Truman, Dewey, Shadow, and Buck.
The story starts out with two guys that are almost naked sitting in trying to break a record. They have to run outside to set the record of 131° below zero. And then the adventure starts from there on out. Jason Biggs (plays Charlie Cooper) is always clowning around and doesn’t seem to take anything serious, case you were wondering who this is. He had a spot in the movie American pie. This will be is basically about survival, there are two parts to this one the survival of the two coming back from the snowstorm, and then the other is the survival of the dogs because they have to leave them because of the snowstorm. The guide and the scientist just barely make it back, they were suffering from hypothermia and frostbite and had to be rushed to the hospital. There is no room to take the dogs with them in the plane. So they had to tighten their collars and leave them behind. Some animal activists did not like this part, leaving them with no food. But, they had every intention on coming back right away. That is when the storm gets worse. Jerry did not want to leave them behind him, but he was promised that they would come back and get them. By the time they got to the hospital, the storm had gotten too bad and they could not spare the plane to get back to them. As soon as Jerry found out that they did not go back and get the dogs, he started to pack and tried to make his way back to get the dogs. In the meantime, the storm had gotten worse, and he felt guilty about leaving the dogs behind because they had to tighten the collars so that they would not be able to get loose.
This movie hits home about loyalty between man and animal. The loyalty that the man faces when the term that they have, “man’s best friend” comes into play. The loyalty is so great with these animals that they will put their life in jeopardy over at the human life. They actually save the life of the doctor twice, and he still has a hard time paying them back for what they did for him. Now, this movie is based on a true story. But if they left the dogs there alone, how were they able to find out what happened while the dogs were left there, how did they survive and how did they get this information. This movie shows how dogs can’t survive on their own, they will also show them experiencing the Northern lights for the first time. They show how they act as teamwork, other than pulling a sled. They will show how a pack works and how they let the master of the team be honored. There are quite a few dangerous situations that the dogs are put in. They are introduced to a dead killer whale was a surprise inside. They show us the grieving side of the wild animal.
Characters
A few of the characters in this movie are well-known for one thing or another such as Jerry Shepherd played by Paul Walker started another movie called “The Fast and the Furious”. Then there was Dr. Davis McCLaren played by Bruce Greenwood, also starred in another movie 13 days. Then the actor Jason Bay is, which played the part of Charlie Cooper has played in the movie that we all know and that is “American Pie”. Jason was also very humorous type showed a lot of it in his role as Cooper, he did not like the dogs slobber plus he was afraid of heights. He was very afraid. When Katie played by Moon Bloodgood, as the pilot, would do all the flying and scare the heck out of Cooper. There were other actors that did just as great a job and they were Dr. Andy Harrisson played by Gerard Plunkett, August Schellenberg played Mindo, Wendy Crusoe played the wife of Davis, Eve McLaren, Belinda Matz played Rosemary, Conor Christopher Levens played Eric Maclaren, the son of Davis McLaren, Duncan Fraser played Captain Lovett. Dan Ziskie played the Navy Commander, Michael David Sims played Armin Butler all of these actors deserve a good hand to have to deal with the subzero temperature in the antartica.
Scenery
I wife is always told me that she would like to go to Alaska on a cruise, but not after seeing this movie. She decided that she would like to stay somewhere nice and warm and sunshine for her vacation. The beautiful and Arctic and its icebergs, always amazed me. The shots of underwater, while the seal was chasing a dog was quite exciting and breathtaking. If you like adventure, you need to see this one.
Rating
This movie is rated PG. There is no nudity or bad language in this movie. It seems to be very realistic when it comes to the dogs having to kill to survive. If you do not want your kids to see what the wild, has to do to survive that it is better that they do not see this. It will last, around two hours, plus there is a lot that your children can learn from this movie such as the Northern lights. If they have never seen these they are very beautiful. But just be careful smaller children might think that this is a disturbing movie because they have to watch the attacks of the large seal off of a killer whale.
Conclusion
My final thoughts on this movie is excellent scenery is beautiful acting was great. You will also wonder how dogs could have survived for over six months by themselves. There is a partial love story mixed up in all of this and a learning lesson for all of the kids that did not know how the wild can survive. I highly recommend this movie for anybody. Even if you are not a dog lover.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12
