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The latest Benji movie truly tugs at the pet lover’s heartstrings because of its two main stars – two adorable animal shelter mutts.  And it delivers powerful messages about the cruelty of both puppy mills and pet abandonment, and the extremely serious pet overpopulation problem in America today.

Although I wouldn’t say the human acting in this movie is Oscar material, the animal acting is superb.

And these Benji movies are unique because they are truly told through animal hearts and souls. There is no narrator. And there are no talking dogs, although the talking bird in the movie is hilarious.

And animals – especially dogs - somehow express emotion on a movie screen far better than many human actors do.

Because the original Benji came from an animal shelter and spawned more than a million pet adoptions around the country, Joe Camp, the movie’s producer, felt that it was a worthwhile mission to do that again; and he launched a nationwide search to find the new Benji in a shelter.

Mr. Camp launched the search for his new animal star in the fall of 2001 that took him from one end of the country to the other, ultimately leading to the adoption of three mixed breed dogs: one from a shelter in Mississippi; one from a shelter in Los Angeles; and one from a shelter in Chicago.

Everywhere he went, Mr. Camp dragged the media out to the animal shelters, and the publicity that followed always led to a rise in adoption levels.

Local and network television, radio stations, and newspapers covered the search, generating more than one billion media exposures for the efforts of animal shelters and rescue groups all across the nation.

The new Benji's home shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi had the largest month in their history the month after Benji was adopted.

Since her adoption, Benji has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for animal shelters and adoption groups all across the country by participating in benefit galas and sneak preview benefit screenings of Benji Off the Leash.

After two weeks of ‘Benji Boot Camp,’ the homeless dog adopted from Gulfport, Mississippi won out as the movie’s star.  The dog adopted in Chicago (Lizard Tongue) became the comic relief in the new movie (and he’s adorable); and the dog adopted from the Los Angeles shelter became an understudy.

Benji and Lizard Tongue live with Joe Camp and his family, and the Los Angeles shelter adoptee lives with the film's other producer, Margaret Loesch.

In my opinion, watching this movie with your young children is a great way to teach them about the terrible plight of homeless animals, about the horrible cruelty of puppy mills, and to teach them the importance of treating all animals humanely.  The young boy in the movie is a great role model for kids.

I’d say Benji Off the Leash is a wonderful family movie, and there truly aren’t that many of them around anymore these days.  Why not watch it with your family soon.?

And why not wander down to your local animal shelter – your own lovable Benji just might be there waiting for you.

I found mine at a shelter in the heart of a big city – and she’s an adorable little actor, too.