there was some discussion while in santa barbara about seeing this movie. well, mostly it was me saying, 'i should see that with my mom.' my mom, i'm ashamed to say, really, really likes movies with animals in them that have some sort of leading role. she made me see this incredibly horrible movie with a bear once that was based on a grimms brothers' fairy tale. i pretty much lost all respect for her film choices at that point. though, all right, yes, i kind of wanted to see 8 below too. and that is shameful. we both watched that two brothers movie too. at separate times though. it's the one with the baby tigers who are split up at birth. i had to stop watching when the mom tiger is trying to chase down the truck carrying away one of her babies because i couldn't deal with how depressing it was. i think my mom managed to watch the whole thing. and flipper, don't even get me started.

back to 8 below. i was under the impression that this would be a happy movie where paul walker first leaves his dogs behind in order to get the humans to safety but then IMMEDIATELY turns around and goes back for the dogs, and against all odds, reaches them. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE DAYS LATER i am still waiting for this to happen. unfortunately dogs have been dropping like flies in the meantime and i've been bawling at the stupid crayon drawing by the doctor's son that is titled, 'the dogs that saved my daddy'. one of them is purple. bawling, people.

this movie was bad. paul walker was absolutely horrid. which is about what you'd expect. jason biggs was totally giovanni with a little gilbert grape thrown in. which was disturbing. the dogs, though, were fantastic and gorgeous. mya and max especially. also the CG leopard seal added some verisimilitude. as did the killer whale carcass. you know what, i think the killer whale was actually a better actor than paul walker.