I grew up loving the original Benji movie and was so excited when this one was released and could not wait to watch it with my younger children. I was not disappointed and my kids equal fell in love with Benji as much as I did.

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)

First of all, this movie is way too dark for small children. Portraying it as a family movie is misleading. Maybe today's kids are numbed to some of the harsh scenes in this movie, but I would not want any young children of mine watching it.

There are some really good segments, and the dog does some clever tricks that are truly worth watching, but the bulk of the movie has problems: (1) It's not credible unless it was supposed to be for very young children, but as already stated, too many scenes are not suitable for very young children. (2) The reactions of some of the adults are unbelievably stupid in face of what is going on. Again, this might be acceptable if this was a slapstick movie of this genre, but it tries to be serious, while doing a horrible job of being consistent. (3) Some scenes were hard to watch because the premise behind them was so lame. I found myself cringing far too often. (4) Some minor concepts were obviously borrowed from other movies. You might find it entertaining to try and spot them.

So it could have been a good crime, thriller, drama, but it's not. I only gave it a four because the kids, especially the older boy, do a good job, and because the dog was very entertaining as well.

I agree that the '74 version is highly superior in every way.