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"Parents now have another fun and fairly safe film to watch with their kids," says Mary Lasse (Christianity Today Movies) in her review of Benji: Off the Leash! The film, she says, "presents us with themes such as friendship, overcoming obstacles, and good over evil. Within these themes, [director Joe] Camp also presents a deeply spiritual film in the form of difficult situations."

In Benji Off the Leash, the familiar, fluffy canine befriends the son of a mean, menacing villain who's guilty of domestic abuse and running a cruel "puppy mill." Benji's famous heroism arrives just in time to bring this wickedness to an end.

Adam R. Holz (Plugged In) says, "Benji works because of its well-paced storytelling. Nearing the credits, I found that I actually cared about Benji and his friends. [It] unashamedly praises the virtues of friendship, loyalty and sacrifice without wallowing in the bathroom humor and cut-rate crudities that have become commonplace even in so-called 'family films' today."

But the film meets some harsh challenges from Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films), who gives the film a "D" grade and calls it "the limpest, dodgiest family film since Kangaroo Jack. I applaud Joe Camp's principles. I deplore his execution. He is right that families deserve better than 'vacuous and safe' pap. Vacuous and unsafe is not a step in the right direction."

Greydanus takes issue with the film's allegedly "happy ending," which "involves the father getting arrested and taken away from his wife and son." He also points out a scene in which dog catchers fall into the mud and then, moments later, appear perfectly clean. "Off the Leash! is as sloppily crafted as any big-studio product from the Hollywood family-film puppy mill."

Lacy Mical Callahan (Christian Spotlight) calls Off the Leash! a "poorly executed attempt. There are many slow spots throughout the film, several scenes that are repetitive, and only a few laughs. I heard two children from different families asking, 'Is it almost over?'"

Michael Elliott (Movie Parables) says, "These dogs … are so expressive it appears as though they communicate both emotion and thought. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their human costars who give us one-dimensional and completely unbelievable characterizations. This may be acceptable in a children's movie, but Camp has tried to insert some pretty mature thematic elements into his film—elements such as domestic violence or illegal puppy mills—which deserve better handling. The movie works best when the humans aren't on the screen and we can just follow the antics of the four-footed stars."

Meanwhile, most mainstream critics are sending this movie to the doghouse.

Zhang Yimou's Hero is more than two years old and has become one of the most celebrated films to come out of China. It was nominated for an Oscar last year for Best Foreign Film (Germany's Nowhere in Africa won).

So, why haven't we seen it on American big screens until now? Ask Miramax, which shelved the film for a couple of years and argued with the director about a final cut.

But now that it's here (opening in more cities this Friday), American film critics are raving about it. It's strange to consult a thesaurus for words that mean "beautiful" while I'm writing a review of a martial arts epic. But that's Hero's impact on its audience. It's a dazzling, romantic, exhilarating spectacle, and a story that resonates with political significance and spiritual turmoil. Sometimes we miss out on the best films merely because they're "foreign." But if you miss seeing Hero on the big screen, you're missing one of the peaks of cinematic spectacle—on par with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48