Snow Dogs (2002)

 

Snow Dogs - 2002

Coming up next we have 2002's "Snow Dogs", a film that sees us follow a Miami dentist as he heads to Alaska to find out about his past and also about his future as the owner of a team of sled dogs.

The film's cast includes Cuba Gooding Jr., James Coburn, Sisqo, Nichelle Nichols, M. Emmet Walsh, Graham Greene, Brian Doyle-Murray, Joanna Bacalso, Michael Bolton, Jim Belushi, and Jane Sibbett.

Dentist Ted Brooks has a pretty good living in Miami.  His successful practice "Hot Smile" is helped by having his advertising on all the city busses.

So his world is completely upended when he finds out that he was adopted and his birth mother (who lived in Alaska) has died and left him an inheritance.

Ted heads to Tolketna, Alaska, where he is in for a complete culture shock.  The small town is very different from the bustling metropolis of Miami.

It turns out that besides a few bequests, his mother has left him all of her property and belongings.  This includes one loveable dog named Nana.

It also includes a pack of terrifying sled dogs led by the ferocious Demon.

While in Tolketna, Ted even becomes acquainted with his birth father, Thunder Jack, who wants nothing more to do with Ted than to buy his dogs from him.

When Ted's mother calls from Miami, she asks him how everything is in Alaska.  "Basically, everything's white...including my father!" he exclaims.

With the assistance of local gal Barb, and not wanting to sell the dogs to Jack, Ted decides to try this "mushing" thing out.

Naturally, things don't go as planned, and we find Ted sliding through town with his hand duct-taped to his sled.

Ted begins to spend more time with his father, who teaches him some of the basic calls and commands for the dogs.

And Ted and Barb begin to fall for one another.  They spend a romantic evening overlooking some of the beautiful Alaskan scenery.

Ted begins to get more comfortable out on the sled with the dogs.  Everything goes fine until the dogs start chasing after a fox.  Ted loses them and gets chased by a grizzly bear, and he finally ends up on a frozen river.  He's got to be rescued by Jack, who discovered something wrong when his dogs came running through town without him.

When Jack sleds into a storm during the Arctic Challenge (a big-deal dog sledding event), it's up to Ted to save him.  While taking shelter in a cave, Ted and Jack become close and finally understand each other.  After the storm has passed, Jack brings Ted across the finish line.

Ted ends up staying in Alaska.  He and Barb get married in front of their family, friends, and sled dogs.  Ted also opens an Alaskan branch of "Hot Smile", while his cousin Rupert runs the Miami office.

Cast rundown:

   Cuba Gooding Jr..............................Dr. Ted Brooks

   James Coburn.................................Thunder Jack

   Sisqo.............................................Dr. Rupert Brooks

   Nichelle Nichols...............................Amelia Brooks

   M. Emmet Walsh.............................George Murphy

   Graham Greene...............................Peter Yellowbear

   Brian Doyle-Murray..........................Ernie

   Joanna Bacalso...............................Barb

   Michael Bolton................................Himself

   Jim Belushi.....................................Demon

   Jane Sibbett...................................Nana

And that's it for Snow Dogs.  During the grizzly bear chase scene, a stuntman was used in Cuba Gooding Jr.'s place.  Two trainers stood off-camera and cued the bear to get it to achieve the motions they needed it to display.  Afterwards, the bear was rewarded with treats and hugs.

As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.