Benji

"Lassie" meets "Greyfriars Bobby" in this amiable but forgettable tale of "Benji". He's an homeless but popular and affectionate little mutt, that wanders the streets of his community befriending all he meets and getting well fed and watered for his troubles before returning to the safety of an abandoned villa where he snuggles up for the night. Then one day his abode has some unwelcome visitors and it looks like "Mitch" (Mark Slade) and his buddies are up to no good. What's worse, we learn from their conversation that they are determined to kidnap two children who are amongst his best pals in the neighbourhood - and to keep them hostage in his house until the ransom is paid by their wealthy parents. Meantime, he has recently encountered another pooch - a sort of "Lady" to his "Tramp", and so his own budding romance is being upset by the arrival of the frightened children and by the panic amongst the locals after they have disappeared. The challenge for "Benji" is to try to lure their family and/or the police to the house where they are being held - but everyone just wants to pet him or tell him to get lost. How is he going to save the day? Now there's no question that dog lovers will love this. I'm not a dog lover and so was less than enamoured of this sponging little critter as it, quite repetitiously, meandered around the town getting spoilt at every turn. That said, though, "Benji" could well have gone to the Rudd Weatherwax school of canine coaching as he reacts effortlessly and quite spontaneously to his camera and human cues, and if you can get past the inane rhyme from Charlie Rich's title song then this turns out to be quite an affable feature very much in the vein of those films produced in the 60s by the Children's Film Foundation.