64
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThere'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.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenThe Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenDisney 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.
- 80Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayAlthough 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.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenWith Eight Below, Marshall has created a family film that doesn't pander, preach, or poop out. That alone is a rare thing.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertRemarkable, 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.
- 70VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyAn easy watch, thanks to the splendors of frosty scenery and furry canines.
- 70Dallas ObserverBill GalloDallas ObserverBill GalloEight 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.
- 67The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinLongtime 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."
- 67Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerAn 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.
- 60L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonMarshall 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.