Preview Review: Benji: Off The Leash!

Opens Friday, Aug. 20

That's right boys 'n girlsBenji! The wily little mutt who leg-humped his way into America's libido 30 years ago is back for his first appearance in the Third Millennium. And from the looks of the preview to this latest installment in the Benji oeuvre, this time around the furry little Deaniac's got the transnational plutocracy quaking in its Uggs. Yup, the days of political apathy are over. It's engag or the dog run, baby! This Benji really is "off the leash" as the title saysand that means he's not only ready to freak with some tasty shin, but he's also gonna nip that shin with his little mutt teeth.

If I could describe this new post-Fahrenheit 9/11 Benji in three words, it would be "strength," "strength" and "war veteran." Yessirree, these are dangerous times, boyz 'n grrrls, and this new Benji is no liberal pushover, not like his limp-tailed, shin-swapping predecessor. This Benji has been to hell and back, rescued as he was from some Mississippi PetsMart, where he had plenty of time to ruminate over the injustices inherent in the post-Reagan capitalist system. Now this barking Bolshevik is bow-wowing in anger, shaking his clenched paw at The Man and ready to tear shit up.

The Man in this case is represented by an evil dog-breeding hick whose only obsession in life is selling his puppies off for as little investment as possible. A dog breedercould anything more hideously represent the degrading, callous design of the transnational consumer-based capitalist system? No, I say, a thousand times no! Benji is ready to fight it.

He raises the consciousness of a talking bird and a black dog not quite as cute as Benjiwhich some viewers may object to for its latent breedismand then movie magic is made when Benji manages to win over the dog breeder's humanoid son to the side of the revolutionaries.

After that, the preview is pure hijinxbut with an important message. When Benji and his crew are chased by bumbling dog breeders, one is reminded of Seattle circa 1999. And one cheers Benji onward. Run, Benji, run like the wind!

In another scene, Benji, the talking bird and the black dog arrest the dog breeder, drag him down into a cellar, force a confession out of him, try him before a court, then shoot him and burn his remains. Later in the preview, Benji becomes increasingly paranoid. He trusts no one, and has the talking bird arrested and sent to an animal shelter, where it is destroyed under dubious circumstances. Benji becomes obsessed with anti-Semitic delusions of a veterinarian's plot to have his balls snippedalienating everyone around him.

All in all, an excellent family movie and a nice break from all of the rough partisan politics.

Mark Ames