I can't wait for a movie about a military combat dog. And although Max may appear to be one, what it's really about is a boy named Justin, taking possession of Max after Justin's brother, who happened to be Max's owner, dies, and Justin has to train him and then they save the day together. So basically, it was your average family movie, showcasing hardly anything new. Although Max's name is in the title, the movie is more about Justin, the sour teenager who hates his brother's and father's patriotism, and pirates video games to make a few bucks. I would have preferred a movie about Max, since he's a great dog and a great actor (yeah, the dog's the best actor in the film, except for maybe Thomas Haden Church, Justin's dad), but the film leaves us utterly disappointed in that aspect. As one critic said, "It's as if the Coen brothers, or maybe Quentin Tarantino, were invited to script a few scenes in Dora the Explorer." That's about the best way to put it; that's how painful it is when movie makers try to make a family movie, while mixing in violent themes. Lassie meets American Sniper. I'm sure that sounded funny in the pitch. If only it would have tried better to be the dog version of War Horse, then it might have been better. But then again, War Horse had Spielberg.
Although the movie doesn't get off on the right footing, one scene is executed well: at the funeral, Max drags his carrier through the aisle, jumps up on the coffin as if trying to find his master, then lays down loyally on the ground in front of the coffin. The funeral proceedings proceed, and then one of the only well-crafted scenes is over. Max's friend Chuy tries to provide some comic relief, but ultimately fails, since the movie would need a lot more than just him to make up for its disappointments. Justin's character is completely uninteresting, his mom is the only character that tries to be inspiring...but she fails, his dad is annoyingly gullible, and, well, this list could go on for a while longer. There were so many extremely agonizing moments, scenes, etc., I practically forgot them all.
But, after a long wait, the kind of exciting climax (almost) saves the day; well, it would be a stretch to say almost, because unfortunately, it would have taken a lot more than just one decent climax to save this movie. The movie is full of clichés, but the climax is a totally surprising turn for a children's movie, and although for an action scene it was not very tense, at least it felt like it after the mind-numbing first hour. After Max, I will open my arms to any other military combat dog movie, under a couple of conditions:
1) It actually has real war--which means it has to be PG-13, and 2) It doesn't star a bratty teenager
The movie still might be very good, but it's hard to imagine it would be worse than Max.
Although the movie doesn't get off on the right footing, one scene is executed well: at the funeral, Max drags his carrier through the aisle, jumps up on the coffin as if trying to find his master, then lays down loyally on the ground in front of the coffin. The funeral proceedings proceed, and then one of the only well-crafted scenes is over. Max's friend Chuy tries to provide some comic relief, but ultimately fails, since the movie would need a lot more than just him to make up for its disappointments. Justin's character is completely uninteresting, his mom is the only character that tries to be inspiring...but she fails, his dad is annoyingly gullible, and, well, this list could go on for a while longer. There were so many extremely agonizing moments, scenes, etc., I practically forgot them all.
But, after a long wait, the kind of exciting climax (almost) saves the day; well, it would be a stretch to say almost, because unfortunately, it would have taken a lot more than just one decent climax to save this movie. The movie is full of clichés, but the climax is a totally surprising turn for a children's movie, and although for an action scene it was not very tense, at least it felt like it after the mind-numbing first hour. After Max, I will open my arms to any other military combat dog movie, under a couple of conditions:
1) It actually has real war--which means it has to be PG-13, and 2) It doesn't star a bratty teenager
The movie still might be very good, but it's hard to imagine it would be worse than Max.