Eight Below/Snow Dogs DVD > Reviews > Snow Dogs & Eight Below (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Brilliant family films, Disney quality picture & sound
Disadvantages:	Some parts a bit unrealistic in eight below

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

==Eight Below & Snow Dogs==

I bought Snow Dogs on video years ago when it first came out and really enjoyed it so when I saw the 2 piece set of this and the new similar film on DVD I went and bought it from play.com as I already wanted to replace my old copy of Snow Dogs with a DVD so this was the best reason to do so.

Snow Dogs

A Walt Disney FilmThe first film came out in May 2002, directed by Brian Levant.
The cast includes

• Cuba Gooding Jr, who plays Ted Brooks a Miami Dentist.
• James Coburn, who plays Jack Johnson (Thunder Jack), an old grumpy man that keeps a team of sledge dogs who then turns out to be Ted's real father.
• Sisqo, who plays Dr Rupert Brooks who plays Ted's assistant at his Miami Dentist Practice.
• Nichelle Nichols, who plays Amelia Brooks, Ted's mother.

The of course there is the dog actors the well trained dogs are played by

• Fly & Dash - Nana the border collie
• D.J & Cody - Demon the lead dog of the sledge team
• Floyd - Mac
• Shadow - Diesel
• Speedy - Digger
• Koda - Yodel
• Buck - Sniff

With this great team of actors and more Snow Dogs has a brilliant story line about a Miami Dentist who inherits a team of dogs all the way in Alaska, these dogs need work and together Ted and the team of dogs bond together and go on to do a race against a lot more experienced teams. Along the way he makes some brilliant friends and also falls for Barb (played by Joanne Bacalso) he also finds his dentist skills come well into use whilst in Alaska on both the people of the down and also the dogs!
To find out more about the films itself it's well worth watching it.The effects are brilliant in this film giving the dogs amazing movement and making it so you can understand what the dog is thinking, the dogs expressions are perfect and timed brilliantly, whilst still remaining very realistic.
The sound is also excellent including the music that is played during the film giving the film some life.
The quality on the DVD is a lot better than it was on the older video version so is well worth purchasing on DVD even if you already have this on video.

This film is rated a PG (Parental Guidance) due to some use of mild crude humour.
It runs for 99mins which is neither to long so you get bored or not enough to fit a brilliant film in it's just the perfect length for this film.

Both adults and children will enjoy this film especially those who are dog lovers.

Eight Below

Another Walt Disney film

After watching Snow Dogs another film that is made by the same company and with the same kind of story line based around a team of sledge dogs I just had to get this film to see for myself if it was as good as Snow Dog.

This film came out in April 2006, directed by Frank Marshall
The cast includes,

• Paul Walker famous for being in the two films fast and furious and 2 fast 2 furious, in Eight Below he plays Jerry Shepard a tour guide with a team of huskies and malamutes.
• Bruce Greenwood, who plays Davis McClaren who is searching for rocks from space and comes looking for Jerry and his teams help to get him across the rough snowy land.
• Jason Biggs, who plays Charlie Cooper, Jerry's friend and helper.

A couple of the doggie actors from Snow Dogs also make an appearance in this film D.J who plays Max a young dog in Jerry's team who is still in training. He also played Demon in the film Snow Dogs, Buck who played Old Jack, the teams oldest member who is soon due to retire from the team, he also played a part in Snow Dogs as Sniff. Also Koda who plays Maya in this film was also Yodel in Snow Dogs.
The last of the dogs Floyd who also played in Snow Dogs as Mac now played Dewey.

This film is about a research centre in the Antarctic when bad weather comes in Jerry is forced to leave his team of dogs behind while they are flow away to safety as there is not room for the dogs, so they are left behind to fend for themselves, Jerry carries on desperately to get back and eventually after weeks he finds a way back to find the dogs have escaped the chains they were tied to and have been out fending for themselves across the cold snows of the Antarctic.
To find out more about the story line it's well worth getting this film.

The film has a good story line with some great effects and movements from the dogs, all though some parts are a little un-realistic compared to Snow Dogs, it still does not make the film anything but excellent.
The sound quality once again and the sound tracks are brilliant fitting in with the mood of the film at the time.

This film is also rated a PG (Parental Guidance) due to scenes of mild peril and brief mild language.
Eight below runs for 120miutes

The Film, Buying, availability etc

I would definitely recommend both of these films and if you can find them as a set together even better I bought both of these films as a box set for £29.00 and I am sure both of these are available either separately or as a box set on the internet still, I know they were available in the supermarkets when the box sets first came out but I have not seen them since.
These films will definitely be available from various internet sites such as eBay.
As it is now 2 years since Eight below came out it should be quite cheap to buy now and well worth getting as a good family movie to watch.

These films both are of brilliant quality and I doubt you would be disappointed by either of them. The amazing sort of film Walt Disney have been producing for years and have I have not been disappointed by them with these films, a great couple of films to add to any ones Walt Disney collection.

Definitely a 5 star rated box set from me!!

Hope this review helps anyone looking at buying this box set or the single DVDs or anyone that reads this might now consider buying these for their children and themselves as a family to watch, or even for the big kids such as me :-)