Benji the Hunted is a 1987 children's drama film about a dog trying to survive in the wilderness. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures. This was the last Benji movie to star Benjean, daughter of Higgins, in the title role.
Plot[]
Benji has become lost in a remote area of Oregon after a boating accident. He finds himself struggling to survive in the wilderness, avoiding close encounters with Timber Wolf, a Brown Bear, and Mother Cougar. Benji made friends with other animals including the Rabbit, The Owl, the Fawn, the Ferrets, the Fox, the Raccoon, & a frog.
Shortly after washing ashore, Benji sees the Cougar mother gunned down by the Hunter. Benji attempts to comfort the dying animal, but he is chased away by him, who then retrieves the dead cat and marches off with her draped over his shoulders. Benji subsequently encounters four orphaned Cougar cubs, belonging to the killed cougar, and he attempts to shield them from predation. He finds another mother cougar and spends most of the movie trying to introduce the orphans to the mother so she will adopt them. Meanwhile, Benji's master Frank Inn is searching for him by helicopter and Benji deliberately hides so as not to be prevented from saving the cubs.
A black wolf named Timber Wolf relentlessly pursues the cubs. Unfortunately, one of the cubs is carried off by the Eagle. In the final encounter and chase with Timber Wolf, Benji tricks him by hiding in the bushes that shields the cliff behind it and sends Timber Wolf falling off the cliff to his death.
Benji ultimately succeeds in having Mother Cougar adopt the cubs, and fortunately, the missing cub that was caught by the eagle, which must've slipped from its grasp (which would explain why the eagle came back a few seconds after that to catch another cub), has arrived and reunited with its family. In the final scene, Benji heads in the direction of the search helicopter to be rescued, which arrives above him, ready to pick him up.
Apart from a news report at the beginning of the movie setting up the plot and three encounters with the Hunter, the action is entirely animal activity in the Wilderness.
Cast[]
- Benjean as Benji
- Mel Blanc as Cougar cubs
- Laura Summers as Mother Cougar
- Jack Angel as Timber Wolf
- Corey Burton as The Eagle
- Bart the Bear as Brown Bear
- Frank Inn as Himself
- Red Steagall as The Hunter
- Nancy Francis as Mary Beth McLaulin
- Joe Camp as TV Director (voice)
- Steve Zanolini as Producer (voice)
- Mike Francis as TV Cameraman
- Ben Vaughn as Engineer's Hand
- Karen Thorndike as Countdown (voice)
- Guy Hovis as The Balladeer (voice)
- Ben Morgan as Himself
- Steve Martin as The Owl
- Madeleine Cowie Klein as The Raccoon
- Lori de Hoog as The Frog
Gallery[]
All four orphans with their adoptive mother & sibling.
.jpg){kind=link}
Red marker arrows pointing how many cubs are there and who is who. Proof that all orphan cubs, including the one caught by the eagle, made it.
Lost cub, fortunately survived the eagle and was running from a different entrance in the mountains to its siblings and new adoptive family.
Trivia[]
- The eagle couldn't possibly have killed the cub it caught and eaten, becuase hawks can't eat prey this size that fast. Which would explain why it returned a few seconds later after that to try and catch another, before Benji interfered.
- Fortunately for Benji and the remaining cubs, the lost cub had survived and was running to its siblings & new mother & adoptive sibling.