The eight canine stars of "Eight Below" pull their weight literally and figuratively in this lively dog-in-jep adventure from Disney. The question for dog lovers who have seen ads for the movie -- about a team of sled dogs left behind in Antarctica that survives for six months until the dogs' handler comes back for them -- is not whether they will cry, but how hard.

The answer: pretty hard. "Eight Below," which is a remake of the 1983 Japanese film "Antarctica" (both films are based on true events) starts out with a gripping setup, in which National Science Foundation guide Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) takes an arrogant scientist named Davis McLaren (Bruce Greenwood) on an expedition to search for a meteorite. When a storm comes in and forces the humans to evacuate, Jerry is told he can't go back for the dogs. As weeks go by, turning into months, no one will help him, not even the pompous McLaren, whose life the sled team saved, twice. (What's malamute for "Dude, that's cold"?)

The rest of "Eight Below" is an often agonizing depiction of how these plucky, beautiful animals save themselves and one another, and although 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.

-- Ann Hornaday

Contains scenes of peril and brief mild profanity.