Jessica, I want to see Eight Below, but I first need to know if any of the dogs perish. Would you mind spilling the beans in whitefont? It won't stop me from seeing the movie, but it will at least allow me to be mentally prepared--animal death is one thing that can really undo me in a film.

Anne, 2 die, 6 survive.

Argh, read the whitefont, now will have to wait to Netflix Eight Below.

What the frell is it about animal death? I can sit through mayhem, spouting blood, the crack of breaking bones, any manner of FX torture upon the human frame, but put Lassie or Lulu the dancing hippo in danger, and I'm a puddle of unresisting meltdown. "Poor Fluffy! Awwww, kitty...."

What IS it? Over-identification with anthropomorphized characters? The notion that critters are inarticulate therefore helpless? The urge to protect Simba and all his well-endowed with fang and claw harem? Somebody 'splain it. 'Cause all I know is, I can watch Kate Beckinsale chow down on a person and never bat an eye. But let one of those penguins fall in a crevasse, and I'm done.

Symbolically, domesticated animals are like children -- dependent, cute, requiring our help. (That's not actually true for a lot of domesticated animals, especially e.g. working dogs, but that's how it tends to feel.)

The rules of actioner fiction are such that you'll almost never see a child die. (Or anyway, not a child that's had a close-up.) It's just too much of a downer, too horrifying to too much of the audience. So if you want your action to have any serious emotional impact (but not too serious), you've got to have adult redshirts, and for that leetle bit of extra impact, a pet.

There were a bunch of dumb action movies in the 90s that let the family pet live, in ridiculous or bathetic ways, so much so it became a joke. In The Lost World, when T. Rex goes hog-wild on San Diego, there's a joke-shot of her eating up a family bulldog, specifically lampooning that trend.

Well, in this film, the dogs are better actors than the rest of the cast combined. Plus, they have BIG DOGGIE EYES and make those sad puppy noises.

Um.... I'm not entirely sure what to make of this, but I think I have to see it.

What Sean said, but for a different movie: [link]

ETA the LJ review that gives away all the best parts: [link] (with screencaps!)

Huskies (at least ones with big eyes and pathetic eyes) may well be Jessica's cheetahsweak spot.

It's the tender love story of a terminally ill man who was reborn as a Pakistani squid, and his fight to regain his former glory as a champion professional wrestler. Except this time, he's got 8 extra appedages, an ink sac, and (presumably) a beak. His rival, enraged at the prospect that he might be defeated in the ring by a giant squid, transforms himself into a similarly giant octopus. The two oversized cephalopods do goodly battle, finally giving a definitive answer to "who would win in a fight between a squid and an octopus".

HMOG that's brilliant. I know at least 5 people who need to own this DVD.

The screencaps are just flat-out awesome.