BENJI: OFF THE LEASH!

[ 1/2] (One and one-half stars)

This dog has fleas. Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG (references to child and spousal abuse). At the Empire, the Linden Boulevard (Brooklyn), the Whitestone (Bronx), others.

DISCO may still be dead, but “Benji: Off the Leash!” resurrects another dubious artifact of the ’70s – the crudely made family films starring that lovable mutt.

Joe Camp’s minimalist directorial style is still stuck back in 1974, when he made the first of the five slow-moving canine adventures – including “Oh, Heavenly Dog!”, in which Chevy Chase was reincarnated as Benji.

This time Benji – nicely played by a stray rescued from a Mississippi animal shelter – comes to the rescue of Colby (Nick Whitaker), a beleaguered 14-year-old Mississippian with an abusive father (a pretty scary Chris Kendrick) who runs a puppy mill out of his backyard.

Along the way, the new Benji gets upstaged by a second mutt named Lizard Tongue, who befriends a lonely old man (Neal Barth) in a sugary subplot. There’s also an appearance by a kindly movie producer making – of all things – a Benji movie.

And while there is some comic relief in the form of two bumbling animal-control agents (Randall Newsome and Duane Stephens), it all plays very much like an extremely drawn-out episode of “Lassie” updated with references to child, spousal and dog abuse.