'BENJI: OFF THE LEASH!'

A MUTT WITH A MISSION!

By DAVE KEHR
New York Times News Service

After a summer of computer-generated blockbusters, the amiably low-tech "Benji: Off the Leash!" seems like a breath of fresh air. Independently produced and self-distributed by Joe Camp, who made the first Benji film back in 1974, the film is an old-fashioned boy-and-his-dog story, in which the dog is played not by a swarm of manipulated pixels but by an actual flesh-and-fur canine.

This is the fourth Benji film since the original, with the fourth Benji to play the role. (The new dog, a mutt with a terrier tendency, was adopted from the Humane Society of South Mississippi.) Camp, who wrote and directed, has concocted a somewhat more somber story than usual for this outing, the first since "Benji the Hunted" in 1987.

Colby (Nick Whitaker), 14, lives with his browbeaten mother (Christy Summerhays) and abusive stepfather (Chris Kendrick) in a small Southern town, where the stepfather operates a sleazy puppy mill in his back yard. When his prize breeder gives birth to a litter of mixed-breed puppies, Abusive Stepfather tries to get rid of the most conspicuously nonstandard of the brood - the blond, big-eyed Benji - but Colby rescues the lovable pooch, installing him in the abandoned school bus that is his private fort.

As Benji grows to mature dogdom, he realizes that he has only one real mission in life: to rescue his sick, overbred mother from the puppy farm. With the help of Colby and a goofy canine sidekick (another foundling whose most conspicuous physical feature earns him the nickname Lizard Tongue), Benji sets out to make things right.

"The Cherry Orchard" it's not, but Camp's script effectively mines the primal emotions - particularly the fear of abandonment - that lie beneath his simple story. And Camp is a master storyteller using the kind of associative editing (known to film theorists as the "Kuleshov effect") in which a neutral close-up (of a dog's face, for example) takes on the emotional coloration of the shots that precede and follow it. (A cut to a steak projects hunger; a cut to Colby suggests love and loyalty.)

Comic relief is provided by a pair of bumbling dogcatchers (Randall Newsome and Duane Stephens) who spend a lot of time taking headers into the mud but eventually come around to recognizing Benji's moral authority. The scatological jokes that have become a staple of children's entertainment (and just about every other kind of movie, come to think of it), are nowhere to be found in this family-friendly film, which nevertheless avoids the reactionary tone generally associated with such back-to-the-basics enterprises. Yes, it's a dog picture. But every dog has its day.

 PRODUCTION NOTES:

 'BENJI: OFF THE LEASH!'

Written and directed by Joe Camp; director of photography, Don Reddy; edited by Dava Whisenant; music by Anthony DiLorenzo; production designer, Eric Weiler; produced by Camp and Margaret Loesch. Running time: 97 minutes.

Cast: Nick Whitaker (Colby), Nate Bynum (Ozzie), Chris Kendrick (Hatchett), Christy Summerhays (Mom), Randall Newsome (Livingston), Duane Stephens (Sheldon), Benji (Herself), Shaggy (Lizard Tongue) and Ginger (Benji's Mama).

"Benji: Off the Leash!" is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). Some suspenseful scenes may upset some viewers.