Max

I saw Max with my 10 year old sons. Absolutely awesome movie to see with your age 10 to 16 child. It is much more than a movie about a heroic dog. It is also a coming of age movie that has some deep dives into responsibility, relationships, and ethics. Oh, and it is a great adventure flick too.

The dog will hook your kids and get them past some early dialog. But once the movie gets going, hold onto your seats! Very exciting. Suffice it to say that the audience gave the movie a long round of applause as the credits rolled. And hopefully some of the life lessons will rub off on the kids...

Max is a film following a dog whose owner was killed in battle and gets moved to stay with the family of his late owner. However, like people he suffered from PTSD and so he found it difficult to be around other people and trust anyone. And that was the aspect i loved about this film, seeing how the war affected this dog and how it affected his relationship with the people around him. They did a great job at capturing the emotions of this dog, and really showing how these events affect dogs in the same way they affect the soldiers. You really get to see how it affects him through his interactions with the various characters in the film, especially Justin; the brother of the deceased played by Josh Wiggins. The scenes where his and Max's relationship is being explored are definitely the highlights of the film and most of that is in the first third to half of the film. But i felt that the film wasted the perfect opportunity to really go in detail about how Max adjusts to trusting people other than Justin as he trusts Justin right from the beginning. After the first act, a lot of the character development was actually focused on Justin and some other life decisions he faced, now although some of this was interesting i felt that it lowered the importance of Max's transformation a little.

Where the biggest flaw with this movie lies is the plot, it is mostly fine for the first act or so but after that they bring in this side plot involving some secondary characters you don't want to really see. They begin to show up here and there and they were also useful for Max's transformation at one point. But then it just takes over the film in the last act and it turns into a completely different movie that really didn't fit the tone of the rest of the movie. It felt messy and turned into your generic good guy bad guy film where the family dog pitches in and helps out a little. During the entire third act, Max undergoes a pretty important change that i feel was rushed and not focused on when it was a big thing early in the film, and that kinda bugged me. How i would describe this film is, if you take the PTSD elements and all of the emotional family relationship stuff from American Sniper and get rid of the war moments and replace them with a generic young kid takes on the bad guys story you have this movie. So in the end, this film really captured my attention with depicting Max, his relationship with the people around him especially Justin, but it lost me with a sloppy, generic side plot that takes over a lot of the movie. - 4.5

Don't let those Rotten Tomato critics sway you. This was a great movie and I am an adult who is also a veteran and German Shepherd Dog owner. While I thought it was going to be more about the dog adapting to civilian life it was something a lot different. I still liked the story and action scenes with the dog. The storyline actually had me guessing which I like in a movie. Even though most of the main characters were kids, it took me back to my days as a kid and when I had my first dog. Anyway, this movie will hopefully show people that dogs are actually very smart creatures and how we as humans need to find the best ways in order to provide them homes and prevent unwanted litters of pups. My dogs have never failed me while people have so many times. It's just a good feel good movie that people need to take in once in awhile.

I recently watched this movie and really liked it !! This movie is so much better than other new, cool movies !! It's not just about sex and brutality ! And not just a doggy family adventure movie !! It has serious content !! How an animal (dog) can change a person's life Not a perfect movie! There are mistakes!! BUT let's look at its content and not just for kids !! One of the most significant movies I have ever seen for me !! I recommend anyone to watch and not just watch brutal, scary, horrible movies !! Such a movie is much more valuable than other famous big movies !

+I'm sorry about the second part😥😥 The real is family adventure movie with no more content !! I was expecting more from a MAX 2 !!

This is a fine dog movie and good for the family without foul language and sex. Movies like this are so important because they remind us of how important dogs and other fellow animals are to us and how many of our human lives they have saved. Throughout history we have used animals like dogs, horses - even pigeons - to aid us in wars. Many thousands have been killed or slaughtered. Some have been recognised as the heroes they are but all to often these dear and faithful friends have been regarded as "things" and not sentient beings with feelings and emotions, beings that give us unconditional love and obedience. There have been better dog movies made in the past but Max is good and worth watching. Max is also a tribute to war dogs generally and hopefully will open some minds to the close relationship that exists between man the animal and his other animal friends.