A ‘Gentle’ Foray Into Movieland

When it comes to making “original” movies, Animal Planet apparently has no plans to go poaching in HBO and Showtime territory.

Leaving the edgy stuff to others, the animal channel launches its Movie Week tonight with a warm and fuzzy updating of “Gentle Ben” (5 p.m., repeating at 7 and 9 p.m.), the 1960s TV series about a boy who bonds with a friendly bear.

What did you expect, “Cujo’s Revenge”?

When young Mark (Reiley McClendon) visits his forest ranger uncle, Jack (Dean Cain), for a vacation at Heartbreak Bay, the trip turns into an adventure. After learning of his parents’ disappearance in a plane crash, the heartsick Mark happens upon Ben the bear in an old mine hole and saves him. But when coldhearted rancher Fog Benson (Corbin Bernsen) suspects Ben of attacking his sheep and puts a bounty on the bear, Mark must embark on a perilous journey to rescue his pal again.

Former TV Superman Cain makes a likable everyman, a nervous bachelor who reluctantly becomes a surrogate father and rises to the occasion. Bernsen, the slick Arnold Becker on “L.A. Law,” is always convincing in a conniving role.

“Gentle Ben” won’t fool anybody with its predictable plot, but it’s hard to argue with its benevolent message: Can’t we get along with other species?

That theme continues Tuesday as Animal Planet airs the 1998 film “Running Wild,” starring Gregory Harrison as a single dad who moves with his kids to Zimbabwe to become warden for an elephant population. Naturally, the family learns that people are not always what they seem--and can be more dangerous than animals in the wild.

Animal Planet’s Movie Week continues with “The Retrievers” on Wednesday, “Bear With Me” on Thursday and more repeats of “Gentle Ben” on Friday.