IMDb RATING
7.3/10
70K
YOUR RATING
Brutal cold forces two Antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival.Brutal cold forces two Antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival.Brutal cold forces two Antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total
Koda
- Maya - a Dog
- (as Koda Bear)
Featured reviews
Good movie--However, I have been to Antarctica for 2 1 year stretches and a lot was embellished in the movie...of course to make it plausible to the masses. You would never see the sun during the Antarctic winter. It is dark down there--the sun dips below the horizon in late March and does not come back until August. BUT I guess Hollywood would have had a hard time filming in the dark, right?? I've actually been to Bailey's in Cheech (Christchurch) and that looked authentic. SO did the outside of the hospital in McMurdo. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants a better understanding of life in the field camps down there--some of it was true but the majority of it was well thought by the makers of this film!
My wife and I went to go this flick in the theater and I would say we were the only folks there without children. We went because we are the proud owners of two huskies ourselves. I urge anyone that is interested in dogs, animals, huskies, Antarctica, whatever, to see this movie. I must say for a Disney movie, it's not as childish as one may think, and there are definitely a few tear-jerking parts for different reasons. I have already noticed the desire growing amongst folks to have huskies in the past year or so, and I bet this movie will only positively influence that. Huskies can be a handful, but they are one of the coolest/smartest breeds you'll ever encounter. I just hope folks will go to Husky Rescue groups, before shelling out hundreds of dollars for breeders. Minor adjustments I would have made are focusing a little more on the dogs survival and less on Paul Walker's mission to get funding. Also, the dogs definitely did not not "talk" as much as our two huskies do : )
Poetic license is some thing, but changing reality to make an absolutely impossible story seem plausible is another. The writers obviously need better advisers about Antarctic travel. Here are just a few of the errors. They show the dogs running when pulling the sled. They would kill them in short order. Real sleds dog simply walk at a very fast pace bordering on a trot. Real Antarctic travelers don't try to travel through storms. They just wait them out in a nice warm tend. Now lets get into science fiction. Bruce Greenwood falls through ice into water. Where exactly would you find water on Antarctica? The ice is several thousand feet thick. (While on the subject of water, where exactly did the dogs find any water to drink?) There are no birds in the interior of Antarctica in the winter and none even on the coast in winter. But lets get to the biggest absurdity bright sunny days in June and July. Huh? There is almost 24 darkness at that time of year. I hate it when they claim that a story is based on reality and the present something that is obvious complete and utter fiction. Am I missing the point but dewelling on these gross distortions of anything faintly resembing reality? Well, if you have a story that consists of nothing more than contrived emotional manipulation using a pack of dogs, you could at least get give the setting and circumstances some semblance of reality rather than turning the world upside down to confirm.
7tohu
This is an extraordinary - and very enjoyable - film, based on a true story about a group of huskies and the people who work with them. But if that sounds like a familiar formula, don't be fooled. This is quite unlike any other film you will see this year.
The dogs, of course, steal the show. You probably need to be a dog-lover (as I am) to enjoy it properly - but I would stick my neck out and say that non dog-lovers should also see it. What is extraordinary is that, as you watch the huskies inter-act with each other, you actually understand what is going through their minds - and yet very rarely does the director slip over into the trap of 'humanising' their emotions. It would have been very easy to make this like an overly 'cute' kind of Disney movie, but that trap is avoided. The film is perhaps a little too sentimental at times, but not once do you expect the dogs to start talking!
As for the humans, Paul Walker is developing into a very good movie actor, and Jason Biggs is always good fun on screen. The film is as much about human loss, fears and emotions as it is about canine intelligence. It also tells you a thing or two about what life is like in a remote Antarctic outpost.
I'd certainly recommend this movie to anyone searching out a couple of hours worth of entertainment. Oh, and there is one moment in the film which is genuinely terrifying: it'll make you jump out of your skin. I'll say no more about that except you'll know it when you see it (You have been warned!)
The dogs, of course, steal the show. You probably need to be a dog-lover (as I am) to enjoy it properly - but I would stick my neck out and say that non dog-lovers should also see it. What is extraordinary is that, as you watch the huskies inter-act with each other, you actually understand what is going through their minds - and yet very rarely does the director slip over into the trap of 'humanising' their emotions. It would have been very easy to make this like an overly 'cute' kind of Disney movie, but that trap is avoided. The film is perhaps a little too sentimental at times, but not once do you expect the dogs to start talking!
As for the humans, Paul Walker is developing into a very good movie actor, and Jason Biggs is always good fun on screen. The film is as much about human loss, fears and emotions as it is about canine intelligence. It also tells you a thing or two about what life is like in a remote Antarctic outpost.
I'd certainly recommend this movie to anyone searching out a couple of hours worth of entertainment. Oh, and there is one moment in the film which is genuinely terrifying: it'll make you jump out of your skin. I'll say no more about that except you'll know it when you see it (You have been warned!)
The acting in this movie is weak. Now that I got that out of the way, let me tell you why this film is worth watching: the outdoor photography and the dogs. This movie contains some of the most impressive outdoor cinematography that one can hope or expect to see in a Hollywood movie. This movie shows the awesome and forbidding beauty of icebergs, ice flows and glacier-covered mountains. Compared to these magnificent edifices of nature, man is rendered almost utterly insignificant, a mere dot in a wilderness of ice that is almost endless. Indeed, the scenery is spectacular. That's one interesting part of the movie. But the main part of the movie are the dogs - eight of them. This movie offers a wonderful story about eight brave and stalwart creatures that are determined to survive in the polar wilderness. Having been abandoned by their owner, the dogs must fend for themselves, and they do so, by staying together, working as a team, looking out for each other and caring for each other. They set an example for us humans to follow. That's why this is a movie that's not about us, but about those wonderful dogs.
Did you know
- TriviaBased on a Japanese expedition to the South Pole in 1958, in which the party was faced with extreme weather conditions.
- GoofsAt the beginning of the movie (when it is January) it is pitch black out for all the night scenes. That close to the South Pole the sun would be above the horizon for at least twenty-three hours per day, and the sky would still be quite bright for the other hour. Also, just before the dogs are rescued, (July time frame) shadows are seen indicating that the sun is pretty much directly overhead. During this time of year, the sun is only above the horizon for about an hour per day, and would never be anywhere near that high in the sky.
- Crazy creditsDedicated to the Antarctic explorers and their dogs whose courage and spirit inspired this film.
- SoundtracksMukilteo Hula
Written and Performed by Kirk Francis (as Kirk H. Francis)
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- What are the names of all the dogs used in this movie?
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Rescate en la Antártida
- Filming locations
- Greenland(The Artic's Wilderness)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $81,612,565
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $20,188,176
- Feb 19, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $120,455,994
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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