The Great Alaskan Race

The Great Alaskan Race wants to educate viewers about an impossible story and the heroes who made it real, but its filmmaking choices keep it thoroughly hollow.

Not a perfect film, but breathtaking enough to linger in the memory.

Unfortunately, it turns out that very least is still too much to ask for from this handsome but hokey drama, which barely seems to notice its canine players amid a focus on one-dimensional humans.

Although earnest to a fault and certainly fulfilling its goal of being family-friendly entertainment, The Great Alaskan Race ultimately proves less exciting and not nearly as adorable as Balto, the 1995 animated film inspired by the same events.

The historic serum run combined dogs, sports and life-or-death stakes, a seemingly perfect setup for cinematic adaptation that "The Great Alaskan Race" fumbles.

A family friendly, faith inspired tale of man vs. nature and belief in the impossible.

Intense but uneven historical drama showcases teamwork.

Too often, "The Great Alaskan Race" is as much a slog as anything the sled dogs have to navigate.

Historically accurate, if "whitewashed," and dramatically lacking account of the famous sled dog rescue of Nome, Alaska from a diptheria epidemic.

It is certainly not a bad movie, but it is not particularly memorable either.