Category: DVD

If Bambi has cruel moments, what to say about a movie where the
dogs, which cope wonderfully with the leading roles of the film,  face the toughest challenges that turn them into
almost a pack of wolves. They die, fight, kill and become sharper in the
struggle for life. You can see the wildest side of nature since the moment they
are left behind, but also the most marvellous one.

I even enjoyed Paul Walker´s acting. There is not much of the
“handsome boy” role as everybody would expect, and more about sobriety in front
of the camera. He is very smart playing the role of Jerry Shepard, the owner
and guide of the dogs. The veteran director, Frank Marshall, has created a wonderful story,
evolved in paradisiacal and extreme landscapes, that is able to transmit a real
love for friends, even if they have four legs. Because if there is one word
that defines the film, that would be commitment. The friends have not left
behind, and if they had to for major reasons, other friends would come to help rescue
those who had been left.

The rest of the cast develop their roles quite nicely as well, and even Jason
Biggs´ foolness does not turn our to be too smarmy.

As I said, I enjoyed the movie through all of its 115 minutes. I never felt
bored; I enjoyed the stunning polar nature surrounding our dear fellows Buck,
Dewey, Maya, Max, Oldie, Jack, Shadow, Shorty and Truman.

One complaint: the Huskie dogs look really beautiful, but so similar the
eight of them that it can easily cause difficulties to distinguish who is doing
what…

When I sit on a sofa and get ready to see a Disney’s movie, I know that
probably I am not going to witness the last masterpiece from the psychological
drama genre, or a movie with a very difficult plot. I expect fun and
entertainment for all the family.  Eight
Below achieves it, and for that reason deserves all my respect.

Teaming up with him is Mira
Sorvino, with a convincing interpretation of Meg Coburn, a tough woman
forged by a hard destiny, who employees herself faking different kind of
documents and identification cards.

The director, Antoine Fuqua,
achieves some great action sequences during the movie. Chow Yun Fat, out of the
typical stereotyped muscled hero for action movies, commands respect on screen
just with his wild gazes. And the film counts some top-quality cast actors for
the “bad boys” such as Jurgen Pröchnow,
Clifton Collins or Danny Trejo.

But nevertheless, the film lacks that "something” necessary to
break the line of mediocrity. The Chinatown
atmosphere could have been much better explored, the characters appear to be
only lightly developed, and the rhythm of the film is sometimes not able to overcome
the feeling of merely admiring one killing spree after another by Yun-Fat/Lee.
If you are thirsty for more of Chow Yun-Fat´s action movies, go back to the earlier
Asian films where he starred.

Riding Alone for Thousand
of Miles is a movie
that flows peacefully and is well-balanced, just as the main character Gou-ichi
Takata (played by Ken Takakura) faces the problems of life.

There are many important things being told to the spectator in the film,
hidden behind the simplicity of forms used to narrate the storyline. It tells
about family relations, about bonds broken and remade, about communication,
between human beings and between cultures (Chinese-Japanese) and about the loss
of communication (from a father and a son who have not met for decades to the loss
of phone coverage in a remote Chinese village).

Director Zhang Yimou, who became internationally recognized with
his previous film House of Flying Daggers, completes a circle here; such
a recurrent figure when we come to think about Asian philosophy. He is able to
transport us from the simplest things of life, to the most complicated
feelings, and then back to simplicity reflected in the pure eyes of a child.
And all that with an exquisite respect for the culture, traditions and relations
of the two most powerful Asian tigers.

I enjoyed the redemption pilgrimage of Mr. Takata through the land of China, because it makes us just take a
look to some of the most important features that we have left in this life to
be considered human beings: forgiveness and love.