Max
Warner Bros. | Release Date: June 26, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
14
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 25, 2015
Max is a throwback of sorts - a movie about the relationship between a boy and his dog. Lassie springs to mind as the genre classic, but this has a closer kinship to Rin Tin Tin. Although its sensibilities are old-fashioned, the movie offers a modern look and feel. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoJun 25, 2015
The handsome and appealing Max, by the way, is played by five dogs. For the record, he is a Belgian Malinois, a breed that in real life is often used in police and military work. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 25, 2015
Max is a big slice of patriotic, down-the-middle genre fare, but it manages to work — and jerk a few tears along the way. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 25, 2015
This fine and welcome piece of family entertainment, directed by Boaz Yakin from a script he wrote with Sheldon Lettich, gets to a sweet spot by way of a smart premise, patriotic undertones and a coming-of-age story that’s downright stirring. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 25, 2015
Despite the overplaying, Max gets its job done, which is to celebrate the sacrifices of military dogs, while warming the cockles of your heart. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 25, 2015
In its last act, Max is reminiscent of Rin Tin Tin and Lassie serials, with a frosting of freshly minted multiculturalism. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 25, 2015
When the movie morphs from a story of mutual healing into a crime-fighting caper, it goes off track. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 25, 2015
The 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. Read full review
60
EmpireJames WhiteAug 3, 2015
The truly effective emotional arc is handed to the furry member of the cast. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDanny KingJun 30, 2015
It's another modest, functional success from a director who used to work on the margins. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelJun 26, 2015
When the films sticks with heart-tugging soldier stuff, it's not bad. When it goes beyond that premise, it becomes so entirely outlandish that it's not enjoyable anymore. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJun 26, 2015
Instead of building upon the welcome openness of that potentially healing father-son encounter, Max stumbles through some iffy crime-thriller territory and ends up pushing its PG rating to its limit. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 25, 2015
As the intrepid kids and the fearless hound unravel a nefarious weapons-dealing scheme, Max finds its sweet spot, leaving behind its overwrought patriotic swagger and settling into the kind of story that would fill a decent hour of television. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoJun 25, 2015
These promising themes aren’t given much more than surface treatment, making for a movie as conveniently tidy as some coming-home schmaltz on basic cable. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJun 25, 2015
It's the Walmart of feel-good family films: accessible, cheaply made, useful in a pinch and full of American flags. Read full review
50
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonJun 25, 2015
Max 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. Read full review
45
TheWrapInkoo KangJun 25, 2015
None 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. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 24, 2015
It 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. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonAug 3, 2015
This is a busy, moderately entertaining slice of family-friendly fluff. It’s flatly directed and functionally acted. Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasJun 25, 2015
There’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. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJun 25, 2015
The screenplay muddles its emotional core with a clunky cross between old-fashioned Hardy Boys mystery and a far-fetched weapons-trafficking subplot. Read full review
40
VarietyGeoff BerkshireJun 25, 2015
It’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. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEric HendersonJun 25, 2015
It 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. Read full review
38
New York PostLou LumenickJun 24, 2015
Director 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. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 25, 2015
Dullness, as well as hoary preachiness, neuters the family-and-their-war-dog drama Max. Read full review
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