Cheap Alaska (DVD) (Thora Birch, Vincent Kartheiser, Dirk Benedict, Charlton Heston) (Fraser Clarke Heston) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Alaska

Almost a great kid's action movie
Overall, I really liked watching this movie with kids from 10-13 years old. The bear cub is a cute idea to keep younger children interested but not very believeable since polar bears don't live in the mountains. There is some character development as the boy, Sean, regrets mean things he said to his father and appreciates and uses the skills he has learned from him. There is a strong femaale, the sister, good to see in a kids' movie. The special effects are really quite well done.

I only have two real gripes. First is the needless swearing of the "bad guys". Lots of "dammit" all through the movie.

Second,the climax, where Cubby takes the end of the rope and supposedly saves the father, is a disappointment. Up until then Cubby has just been a distracting side bar. Just when we are engaged in the most exciting part of the movie and there is an opportunity for the children to really pull off a heroic deed, it is Cubby who grabs the tail of the rope and gnaws on it to save the dad.

The scenery is beautiful. There are wonderful shots of a glacier, kayaking on open water, canoeing on a river, and rock climbing that just make me want to hop a plane to Alaska. The writing and editing are well done. The characters are believable for the most part (it is a children's movie, after all).

There are a few other minor problems. The father is in the open on a snowy mountain for 3 days with no blanket but doesn't seem to suffer from hypothermia. The police give up the search way to early. And the kids don't leave a note or anything about where they are going when they take off for the Devil's Thumb Pass to find their father.

I think parents should watch this with their kids and point these things out as they watch the movie. This can be a good way to teach critical thinking.

This is an exciting, beautiful movie with something for everyone in the family. Have fun with it.

---

A good movie with great visuals
I can't believe that "Alaska" isn't getting better reviews than it is. A movie doesn't have to be one of the best ever to be a great movie. I thought it was a good all around movie. Two teens go on a search for their father after his plane crashes and the police show that they're not willing to search for him as much as the kids think they should be. Along the way, the kids run into poachers and they find a friendly polar bear that follows them the rest of the way trying to protect them. They have to find their father and then figure out a way to rescue him.

"Alaska" works well as a good adventure movie and it realistically shows family drama at the beginning of the movie. Surprisingly, parts of it such as when the kids are trying to save their dad, are even exciting. All the way through the movie you'll see spectacular scenery, which goes along great with the plot. Myself, I liked "Alaska" and I don't see why a lot of people don't like it that much, except for maybe that they're expecting too much from the movie. Just don't watch "Alaska" and expect it to be like a movie blockbuster, just watch it like it's a regular Tv movie, and you should like it pretty well. I recommend this movie for anybody.

---

Just plain silly without meaning to be.
The problems this movie faces are more daunting than the teenagers' search for their missing father; the plot is paper thin and equally transparent. That a self-centered and disfunctional family is suddenly cured of all their ills in this moment of crisis is patently false. Worse the movie doesn't instill any respect for the wilderness meaning that any impressionable child that watches might be misled as to the dangers of their activities. The fact that polar bears do not frequent high mountains strains what little crudulity remains, reinforced by terrible film editing which reveals the cub at the end rejoining a ploar bear family group which low and behold is somehow no longer in the mountains, but on coastal tundra. The scene, the lighting, and the film quality all demonstrate totally different animals and locations. Any film editor should have been able to do a better job of blending the clips, but it seems the maker of this movie thought those watching were even less informed than they were and just didn't care.

One of the worse films I have seen in ages. My kids even thought this was just plain silly. Those entralled with this movie must check their reasoning powers at the door, because for any thinking person, even kids, it is almost insultingly dumb.