Benji: For the Love of Benji (1977)

A Very Unique View of Greece

The camera is mostly kept at the height of the dog. You'll experience (late 70's) Athens like NEVER before - at about 2-3 feet off the ground! Watch it and you'll see what I mean. It's wonderful and truly unique.

My cousins are the little Greek kids running around in the ticket line at the Houston, Texas airport at the beginning of the film.

As a Benji adventure this one is so-so. Don't expect the same level as the Disney Benji movie. Might be too old (clothes/hairstyles) and slow moving (sometimes boring) for some kids these days.

The four stars are for the interesting/unique footage of Athens (camera at dog height). July 25, 2008

BENJI

WELL, IF YOU ENJOY THE ANTICS OF DOGS, YOU WILL ENJOY THIS ONE. I RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY. March 24, 2008

Run, Benji, Run!

This second film consists mostly of scenes of Benji running. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. The first Benji film consisted mostly of scenes of Benji running, too, but it was quite good. This follow-up isn't as good, but for other reasons.

On the positive side, returning writer/director Joe Camp stuck with something unusual that he did in the first film--he did the film from a dog's point of view. That doesn't mean that the film is in first person from Benji's perspective. Imagine more a dog directing. The content, kinds of shots and kinds of angles are mostly what a dog might do. It made the first film, with its very unusual structure, a success, and it more or less makes this one, which also has an unusual structure, well, not exactly a success, but it makes it "kinda work".

A couple factors bring the success rate down a bit. The story takes place in Greece this time--in a move that seems like maybe the crew and cast wanted a paid vacation in Greece--and a lot of dialogue is in Greek, without subtitles. Although interesting for adults, that's a particularly odd move for a family film, and the goal here is definitely to make a family film--Camp even announces this at the very beginning onscreen.

Also odd for a family picture, most of the human-sourced interaction in the film features people attacking or chasing Benji--with chloroform, with meat cleavers, with fruit, with a big mean Doberman, and with guns. Not that it's graphic in any way, but the concept is there, and Benji's running is mostly precipitated by unfriendly people chasing him.

There is a complex plot involving scientific research, where they want to use Benji for nefarious goals, and where Benji seems to be world-famous, all of which is never explained very well. Heck, most of the dialogue about this is in Greek, although the science-oriented stuff is very sketchily explained in English at the end. Benji being so well-known is never explained.

And a final problem--even though the first film was also as if directed by a dog, there were important human characters who had some depth to them. That's not the case here. Benji's owners are hardly in the film and the villains are almost completely non-developed the short amount of time that they're in the film.

So we're left primarily with Benji running and running through Greece. Through airports. Through the city streets. Just outside of the city near some ancient ruins. The scenery is nice and nicely shot, Benji does some neat trained actions, and insofar as Camp explores everyday dog stuff, the film is rewarding. Heck, the chased-by-villains scenes are pretty rewarding, too, even if plotwise, you don't know exactly what's going on or why it's going on.

This may be the worst Benji film (and I don't know yet, since I'm just rewatching them now after not seeing them for many years), and it may not be a great film for kids for a couple reasons, but it is still very mildly recommendable, especially for fans of Benji films and animal films in general, or for anyone who wants a glimpse of what Greece was like in 1977. It's also amusing to note how much Benji looks like Ron Wood. July 31, 2006

Harmless but terrible

I am stunned by the other reviews. This movie is harmless and okay for the young and completely undiscerning, but really terrible in most aspects: story, camera work, editing, and acting. A previous reviewer compared it to Babe and that is truly unfair to Babe -- to its fine story, good acting, and sweet message. For the Love of Benji looks like a ten year-old made it with a video camera. About half of the movie is Benji walking back and forth.(I suppose they needed these shots to fill in for the plot that wasn't there.) However, these scenes are preferable to the incredibly poor acting of the human characters and the ridiculous, albeit mercifully limited, dialogue. If you want to rent something to show to a five year- old that you can walk away from and not have to worry about content, Benji is it. If you want to rent something you can actually watch with your kids without being completely stunned by its badness, watch Babe, Finding Nemo, Mary Poppins or any of the other dozens of truly good kids' movies out there. January 11, 2005

benji pulls you in

this is a very good movie, and it seems like a real situation. The dog is trained very well. if you like this, you might wanta see the first Benji, Benji's Christmas, or Benji the Hunted. Benji the hunted made me cry hysterically, but it was still very good. Also you should see the newest Benji movie: Benji off the Leash. It's in theaters right now!!! I saw it, and it was really good!!! September 8, 2004

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