Benji: Off the Leash!
| Benji: Off the Leash! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Joe Camp |
| Written by | Joe Camp |
| Starring |
Benji Nick Whitaker Shaggy Gypsy the Cockatoo |
| Music by | Antonio di Lorenzo |
Production company | |
| Distributed by |
2004 release - GoodTimes Entertainment Current - Gaiam/MGM |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3,817,362 |
Benji: Off the Leash! is a 2004 American comedy-drama film that was shot in various parts of Utah.
Plot
The film starts with the understanding that the makers of the Benji films are going to various towns in the U.S. looking for the next dog to play Benji. In a small Mississippi town, a freelance, abusive dog breeder named Hatchett keeps a backyard kennel under poor conditions behind his home. He lives with a young boy named Colby and his mother and is verbally and physically abusive to them, but Colby loves dogs and secretly nurtures a female black dog, Daisy, who is Hatchett's top breeder. He goes to an abandoned house in the neighborhood and takes food and water to the black dog so she can produce milk for her new pups. Hatchett learns of this and accuses Colby of stealing his most prize breeder, then orders Colby to take the black puppies, but abandons a fluffy, light-colored "mongrel". Over several months, Colby secretly cares for the puppy, and she grows into the unnamed fluffy dog that will become Benji.
Meanwhile, two Animal Control officers named Livingston and Sheldon come across a shaggy dog that is impossible to catch. A local elderly man, Zachariah Finch, offers food to the stray at his home in the woods and becomes attached to him. The dog is dubbed "Lizard Tongue" by the officers looking for him (due to its long tongue always hanging out of its mouth). When the fluffy dog sees that her mother is sick in the kennel, she opens her cage and helps her escape. Then she gets Lizard Tongue to help when she is too weak to eat, and they both draw the Animal Control officers to the abandoned house and the ailing black mother dog. At the shelter, a veterinarian determines she is dying from over-breeding and poor care, so the shelter director and the local sheriff authorize the vet to spay the dog.
When Hatchett learns that the Benji film producer is in town and wants the fluffy dog to be the new Benji, he intimidates Colby into lying about being the owner. At the shelter, the fluffy dog is reunited with her mother, and Colby tells everyone the truth about the dog, which makes Hatchett lose his temper, which makes Ozzie take him out and get arrested, then states that in the meantime, Hatchett won’t do any more harm to them. The end credits show various scenes from the film as they were shot and make reference to the origins of the shelter dogs used in the film.
Production
Benji: Off the Leash! was filmed in various parts of Utah including Kaysville, Ogden, Payson and Salt Lake City as was stated in the end credits. The credits also jokingly refer to the number of computer-generated imagery effects and animatronic dogs used in the film as "none".
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a score of 33%, based on 43 reviews, with an average score of 4.3/10.[1]
Cast
- Nick Whitaker as Colby, the son of Hatchett and Claire
- Chris Kendrick as Terrance Muncy Hatchett, Colby's abusive father
- Christy Summerhays as Claire, the wife of Hatchett and the mother of Colby
- Neal Barth as Zachariah Finch, a local elderly man
- Randall Newsome as Livingston, an animal control officer
- Duane Stephens as Sheldon, an animal control officer
- Nate Bynum as Sgt. Oswald Lewis
- Melinda Haynes as Animal Shelter Director
- Joey Miyashima as Veterinarian
- Scott Wilkenson as Film Producer
- Jeff Olson as Paul's Market owner
- Moochie (credited as "Benji") as Benji, a white fluffy dog
- Sally Sue as 8-Week-Old Benji
- Odola as 4-Month-Old Benji
- Shaggy as Lizard Tongue, a long-tongued shaggy dog
- Gypsy the Cockatoo as Merlin
References
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes, "Benji: Off the Leash! (2004)". Accessed July 26, 2017.