Eight Below
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: February 17, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Eight magnificent sled dogs must fend for themselves amid Antarctica's frozen wastes in this top-notch survival adventure that will reduce the coldest heart to a puddle of warm slush. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There's something invigorating about this unpretentious dog tale. And if a penguin drops by to promote his own movie product, well, there's room on the frozen continent for all. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Disney may have written the book on live-action animal adventure stories, but it has been quite a while since there has been a chapter as terrific as Eight Below. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Although the dogs have surely been Disney-fied to some extent, the sequences of them trying to survive are magnificent and deeply moving. Bring the Kleenex, and hug your pups when you get home. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
With Eight Below, Marshall has created a family film that doesn't pander, preach, or poop out. That alone is a rare thing. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Remarkable, how in a film where we KNOW with an absolute certainty that all or most of the dogs must survive, Eight Below succeeds as an effective story. It works by focusing on the dogs. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Walker is adorable, but gives a one-note performance. Greenwood, a charismatic and unsung character actor, has the most noteworthy human performance as a somewhat arrogant academic whose decency keeps him from becoming a stock villain in a formulaic story. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
An Americanized remake of the 1983 Japanese movie, "Antarctica," which told the true story of a pack of huskies that somehow managed to survive a brutal winter by themselves at Japan's East Antarctica station in 1957. Read full review
75
PremiereEthan Alter
The dogs are such charismatic performers it's almost a shame that there have to be humans in this story at all. Still, the Antarctica sequences alone make Eight Below one of the better family films out there right now. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
"March of the Penguins" - phooey! Those smelly little birds are built to survive in the frozen tundra, and nobody's asking them to pull a sled. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
The determinedly cynical needn't bother, but just about everyone else should love Eight Below. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It's the most touching love story about tragically separated sexy beasts since "Cold Mountain." Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The film works best among the beasts. Their training is impeccable, their emotions are palpable, and almost all of their behavior is credible. One "Jaws"-like encounter sends a carnivorous leopard seal after a fleeing canine, and it's as tense as anything I hope to see this spring. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
An easy watch, thanks to the splendors of frosty scenery and furry canines. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Eight Below splits into two movies--the compelling tale of the dogs' struggle to pull together and survive and the much less interesting one about Jerry Shepard's emotional trauma and his search for redemption. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The survival drama is genuinely exciting, and the players, both human and canine, put this across with spirit. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Longtime Steven Spielberg collaborator Frank Marshall is smart enough to know his core audience of kiddies came to see the dogs, who take center stage in many of the film's best sequences, especially a jolting leopard-seal attack that's as terrifying as anything in "Jurassic Park." Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
An actress named Moon Bloodgood, who started out as a hip-hop dancer and Laker Girl before getting into movie and TV work, plays a bush pilot and sometime girlfriend of Jerry's. The role is bland but that name is great. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The dogs are fantastic. The humans need more work with their trainers. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
It's formulaic and frequently over the top, 30 minutes too long and altogether too slow, but oh when those gorgeous, graceful pups tilt their heads just so … love. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Solid family entertainment, with thrilling action sequences and gorgeous scenery. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Marshall isn't exactly a cinematic poet, but he does a fine job delineating each individual dog's personality, as well as the shifting hierarchy of power within the pack, which is why it's so exasperating that he and first-time screenwriter Dave Digillo are forever cutting away to dull Jerry and his stateside quest for rescue-mission funds. Read full review
60
SlateEmily Yoffe
The dogs learn to fight for themselves and eventually tangle with a (computer-generated) leopard seal in the movie's most thrilling encounter. Read full review
60
EmpireSimon Braund
The dogs, whose individual personalities shine through without recourse to crass anthropomorphism, are superstars. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNathan Lee
Eight Below is Grade A pooch porn, an orgy of canine cuteness. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
This family adventure about a team of sled dogs abandoned in Antarctica naturally invokes the traditional shout of "Mush!" urging the canines to go faster, but it's also an apt descriptor of both its shameless sentimentality and ineptly structured story. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Eight Below doesn't always quite put across the idea of extreme weather, either; the way the actors keep appearing outside with bare heads and jackets unzipped suggests November in Burbank, not 31 degrees below zero. The scenes in which Biggs appears in shorts kind of clinch the point. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
This is one of those lazy, lukewarm pictures that's even more disappointing than a purely bad one, and for one glaring reason: How could Marshall, his writers, and even his actors have let these dogs down so badly? Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
At two hours, Eight Below becomes rather repetitive and arduous in its final stretch, the rescue mission. But the canine cuteness, breathtaking action and acts of bravery are worth braving the Disney elements -- overpowering, poignant music, an unnecessary romantic subplot -- if you like your movies doggy-style. Read full review
50
Village VoicePeter L'Official
A gorgeous art film full of snowy silences and spare, gestural performances threatens to break loose (the most inspired acting comes courtesy of the canines), though the plot's slavish schmaltz proves as oppressive as the harsh winter that descends upon the dogs. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
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. Read full review
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