Remember the Jamaican bobsled team? Well, this film introduces us to the Jamaican dogsled team. Yes, a group of mongrels rescued by the Jamaican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals get to tap their inner Balto and learn how to become a unified dogsled team.
However, the dogs don’t head out into Arctic competition – Jamaican quarantine laws would prevent their return if they left the country. Instead, the mushers hit the dogsled circuit with the skills they learned courtesy of the Caribbean canines. The mushers may be third-rate dogsled handlers, but they serve as first-rate goodwill ambassadors by bringing an unlikely Jamaican representation into this winter activity.
Unfortunately, the film has difficulty keeping its focus on the doggies. Instead, it often veers into strident denunciations of Jamaica’s socio-economic conditions, with endless complaints about government inefficiency in meeting the educational and occupational needs of the population. The film also insists the dogsled team is good for the country’s economy, though its effects seem limited to generating a few tourist dollars from visitors who snap pictures of the unlikely sight of Jamaican equivalent of the Iditarod.
