For the Love of Benji Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

For the Love of Benji Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 4, 2018

It’s not as if Benji, the cute-and-cuddly family smash hit of 1974, was, or is, a great film. A classic, sure, but more a classic for its goodnatured, lighthearted, approachable story and character, too, and less so for any other value, dramatic or otherwise. The film was very basic beyond Director Joe Camp's doggie-perspective photography, the hit single "I Feel Love," and of course the indelible title canine who won hearts the world over. It's no surprise the film would earn a sequel, and with so much audience goodwill, why not. For the Love of Benji released several years later in 1977. The film, also written and directed by Joe Camp, follows the dog's exploits overseas as it finds itself separated from its family and on the run from some unscrupulous criminals.

Make way for Benji! One of the world’s most famous screen pups is traveling the world. But he’s a wanted dog. After boarding a plane and being placed in a compartment away from the passengers, Benji is drugged and a secret that must get through customs undetected is stuck onto his paw. His plane’s destination: Greece. He’s quickly separated from his family -- caretaker Mary (Patsy Garrett) and children Paul and Cindy (Allen Fiuzat and Cynthia Smith) -- and finds himself on the run in the middle of Athens and the nearby countryside. With bad people chasing him, food scarce, and friendly faces rare, the little hero must do all he can to survive, reunite with his loved ones, and foil another dangerous scheme, this time hatched by a band of international criminals.

This is a film of simple pleasures. It follows Benji around a foreign land. He must find food to eat. He runs into all sorts of characters, human and animal, as he remains on the run from a few people who want to get their own dirty paws on him. Why? It doesn’t matter all that much. The plot is certainly secondary to Benji’s adventures, most of which are not really connected to the story. The animal makes his way through Athens and deals with angry butchers and irritated pedestrians. He befriends another dog. The rest of it just doesn’t mean much. Joe Camp and his canine actor do a good job of capturing Benji’s broad emotional responses along his journey -- excitement, fear, daring, loneliness -- as he scrounges for food, flees from people who would do him wrong, and interacts with a number of different people throughout Athens who mean him no real harm, all the while simply trying to get back to his family.

There's less of a human presence in this film. Characters are very loosely drawn, Benji's family is barely in the movie (particularly in the first two acts), and the plot and the manner in which the characters fit it never enjoys much cohesion or sense of purpose. Benji is in this film portrayed by a new dog named Benjean, a direct descendent of Higgins, who played the title character in the original. The film doesn't miss a beat. The transition is seamless, and audiences then, without the benefit of the Internet to tell them so, probably weren't any the wiser that a different dog portrayed the title pooch. Benjean is adorable. Her actions betray her lineage because she's a natural for the camera, capable of not only sprinting action but cute-and-cuddly for the camera that will melt the audience's heart. Camp continues to shoot much of the movie from down low at Benji’s perspective, either first or third person points of view, which offer a sense of scale and scope to his adventures. These shots are complemented, from time to time, with additional perspective shots that follow the animal from above or from the side.

For the Love of Benji Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For the Love of Benji actually looks quite impressive on Blu-ray. While there are some stray scratches and pops, the image boasts high yield textural delights from beginning to end. Facial textures are superbly complex and very organic. The image is nicely filmic, featuring a fine layer grain retention (though with some splotchy corners, too). Environments are fairly crisp, particularly textured walls and conveyor belts in the airport proper and more dense and varied objects in various store rooms and other locales within its bowels. Greek exteriors are alive with impressive stone and concrete complexity, and the same can be said for some natural dirt terrains and grasses when Benji scouts and scavenges for food after becoming lost. Colors are pleasantly rich as well. Natural greens, clothes, tablecloths at an outdoor café, any number of hues throughout the movie generally find impressive saturation and natural vitality. Skin tones are fine. This is a very impressive release under the Mill Creek banner.

For the Love of Benji Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For the Love of Benji barks on Blu-ray by way of an LPCM 2.0 uncompressed soundtrack. Music is enjoyably clear and well spaced. The opening title tune, friendly and welcoming, enjoys fluid, easy front-end width with somewhat centered lyrics and well defined essential instrumental notes. The track is unafraid of making use of every inch of sonic real estate available to it. Airport din is fluid and well spaced, and PA announcements filter off to the sides. The downside is that dialogue occasionally struggles with prioritization, notably in those airport interiors near film's start. Not only are spoken words scratchy and shallow, they struggle to compete with the various background elements. A few crashes, some piercing screams, and other "action"-type sound effects lack depth and absolute crispness and lifelike transparency, but core, crude elements are conveyed well enough. Aside from those problematic airport dialogue faults, the spoken word is generally fine, even when hearing more from Benji's perspective down below.

For the Love of Benji Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

For the Love of Benji contains a commentary, a TV special, and a bonus feature length film. A Mill Creek digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary: Director Joe Camp and Son Brandon Camp offer an informative and wide-ranging track, in which discussions include story, music, working in Greece and with a multinational crew, various challenges of the shoot including shooting on a stage for night shots, working with animals, and plenty more. Available on both the Blu-ray and the DVD.
• Benji Takes a Dive at Marineland (480i, 26:34): In this half-hour special, Benji travels to Marineland in Florida to scuba dive where no dog has dove before. Available on the DVD only.
• The Double McGuffin (480i, 1:40:23): A full-length film written and directed by Benji's Joe Camp. Available on the DVD only.

For the Love of Benji Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For the Love of Benji isn't really any darker than the original (which was sort of dark in its own right, dealing with frightened kidnapped children). It's a pleasant, agreeable little movie that shows the best in man, and animal, even under difficult circumstances. It's a bit slow and plodding and the story doesn't really amount to much, but it's a solid follow-up to a movie that performed well above its quality. Fans are going to love Mill Creek's release. It's not perfect by any means, but picture quality is, overall, really quite good, Audio has its struggles, but it, too, is more impressive than not. A few great extras are included, two of which, however, are exclusive to the DVD but one of which is a full-length film. Recommended.