superstine-71036 My children were literally sobbing out loud watching this and after. We only forged through it thinking it would get cuter and happier but really did not.

Wizard-8 The original 1974 "Benji" didn't exactly enthrall me when I saw it years ago, though I feel I should mention that I saw it as an adult years after its initial release during a more cynical time. Neverless, I was interested to see what this remake would be like, seeing that the son of the original writer/director had the writing and directing chores this time around. The end results are without doubt a lot more polished than the original movie, despite having just a fraction of the cost of a major Hollywood studio blockbuster. And the characters speak and act in a way that is pretty believable. However, these more realistic characters eventually backfire on the movie. The original movie, as flawed as it was, did have a charm that was sweet and innocent. In this remake, the realistic depiction of the characters and the events remove this charm, and as a result the movie is kind of cynical at times. While I didn't think the movie was as dark as other IMDb users have stated, all the same very young kids might be a little disturbed by some of the going ons in this movie. Also, the movie suffers from the same problem that the original movie had, that being that the kind of thin story is noticeably padded out. I'd say stick with the original movie instead.

abbywynne My 8 year old cried from the half way point right to the end of the movie. The dog was great the storyline too intense and emotional. This is not a light family movie.

sddavis63 I only found out that there was a 2018 version of this movie when I looked up the 1974 version of the story on Netflix. This new version is a Netflix production, and you can't help avoid the tendency to compare it to the original version so it's very hard to let it stand on its own. Compared to the 1974 movie, this "Benji" is a much darker movie from the beginning. Where the '74 version opened with the wonderful theme song "I Feel Love" - sung by Charlie Rich - this one opens with a menacing animal control truck rounding up strays to take them to the pound. Where the '74 version spent a lot of time letting us follow Benji, learning his daily routine and even getting a sense of fun as we learned about all the various relationships that Benji had developed with various people, this one seems rushed - giving us very little about Benji's life, but pushing us very quickly into the kidnapping narrative.Yes. That part's the same . Benji gets befriended by a young brother and sister, whose parent (a single mother this time rather than a single father) refuses to let them keep him. The kids get kidnapped and it's up to Benji to convince mom to follow him so that he can make sure they get home safe. I watched the '74 version with my daughter (who's 13) a few days ago. Today, the day of its release on Netflix, we watched this one. We both agreed that this movie lacks the fun of the original; the charm. Her assessment was that this Benji (the dog, not the movie) didn't have as much "personality" as the old Benji. That's not a bad way of summing it up. He's certainly cute - and the ending is classic "tug at your heartstrings" stuff that only a cute dog can bring out in you. And I would say that the human performances are better in this one than in the '74 movie. But I'm still not convinced that remaking it was a good idea on Netflix's part. And, to be honest, one of the best things about the '74 movie was "I Feel Love." Here, we get a truncated version of that song at the very end before they cut it off and return to some song whose words and title I can't even remember that was written for this, I guess. That was one of the biggest disappointments of all.If I were asked, I'd definitely recommend the '74 original over this one any day. (5/10)