I was looking for something family friendly for Thanksgiving and came across Benji the Hunted. I didn't even know this film existed. Just about the entire film is absent of any human beings. The animals do the acting. Benji of course dazzles with all his tricks, but it's just as remarkable that they were able to get the cougar cubs to act the way they did as well as the wolf and other animals. It must have taken quite a few takes to get it all right, since you can't exactly "train" a cougar cub to do what you want it to do. There are a few demented scenes that small children might find shocking, like the cougar mother getting shot, one of the cubs getting swept away by a hawk and the wolf being tricked into plunging to its death off a cliff. Since the film is absent of any plot other than Benji trying to get the poor cubs to another cougar so that she can adopt them, some of the scenes drag on way too long, like the ten minutes it takes Benji to carry the cubs up the mountain in his mouth, but otherwise this is perfect fun for animal lovers and to keep the kids busy.
Review of Benji the Hunted
