47
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe heart of Max is a boy learning about an always faithful dog, and as sentimental and manipulative as their bonding moments are, that’s what works.
- 63St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSt. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsWhen the movie morphs from a story of mutual healing into a crime-fighting caper, it goes off track.
- 50Screen DailyJohn HazeltonScreen DailyJohn HazeltonMax is a genial if somewhat old-fashioned tale that’s too clunky to transcend its genre(s) but effective enough within its own limited emotional range.
- 45TheWrapInkoo KangTheWrapInkoo KangNone of these plot points are run through with any thoughtfulness or panache. Despite a great, unaffected performance by Wiggins — the only one among the cast — and the primal joy of seeing the dog actors sprinting, leaping and maybe even emoting, the film is sunk because the characters never transcend their seeming origins in a Disney Channel movie project.
- 42The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyIt is dull and weird — weird in that way that it is pronounced we-ee-eird, the stretched vowel signaling a weirdness that is probably unconscious on the part of the filmmakers.
- 40VarietyGeoff BerkshireVarietyGeoff BerkshireIt’s too bad the film doesn’t provide a better sense of what makes the Belgian Malinois so uniquely suited to the battlefield, or find a way to pay more than lip service to the deep bonds developed between military men and animals.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe screenplay muddles its emotional core with a clunky cross between old-fashioned Hardy Boys mystery and a far-fetched weapons-trafficking subplot.
- 40The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasThere’s a touching story here about a boy getting over his grief and narcissism by nursing a dog through its own set of traumas, but Max is far too gung-ho about playing up the pup’s heroism and self-sacrifice to give it much time to develop.
- 38New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickDirector Boaz Yakin (“Remember the Titans”) indulges in an awful lot of gunplay for a PG-rated family film, but sure knows how to stage a dirt-bike race. The Belgian malinoises who play Max way out-act the humans.
- 38Slant MagazineEric HendersonSlant MagazineEric HendersonIt hits its Red State beats so hard that its target audience likely won't notice they're being not only condescended to, but insulted outright.