Eight Below

The kids wanted to see Pink Panther, but I talked them into Eight Below after reading a review saying P.P. was full of the type of crude sex-farce humor to which I'm trying to avoid exposing the kids.

*** WARNING -- MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOWING ***

Eight Below is a pretty straightforward adventure movie, but it's quite graphic in a "red in tooth and claw" way; it's not for very young children. Unfortunately, many parents at the showing we saw didn't seem to realize this & brought their little ones -- as young as threeish. So, we endured some wailing in several scenes... a graphic depiction of frostbite, a section where the abandoned dogs learn to hunt & then consume their kills, and an extremely scary "jump" scene where a predator attacks a dog. Some of the poor kids had problems with the deaths of two of the dogs, which were of course played for maximum pathos.

The human story (the intrepid antartic explorers trying to get back to the dogs) isn't nearly as compelling, for some reason. I think the dogs were better actors.

I admit, I was bawling at some bits; but I always cry unashamedly at movies, even dumb romantic comedies. Ali, on the other hand, was doing her best not to let me see her wiping away tears, but moms see that kind of stuff.