Max *** (2015, Josh Wiggins, Thomas Haden Church, Lauren Graham, Luke Kleintank, Jay Hernandez, Robbie Amell, Mia Xitlali, Dejon LaQuake) – Movie Review

It’s hard to imagine a movie whose concept is Lassie meets Coming Home, but here it is. It’s better to think of it as a boy and his dog movie. You’d have to have a hard heart not to like it. It’s an earnest, heart-warming but slightly tough-edged mix of true-life situations and fantasy thriller is pretty near irresistible, for all teens and the young at heart.

Josh Wiggins is the said teenage boy, Justin Wincott, who inherits his brother’s dog Max, whose job it was to help US Marines in Afghanistan, after it returns shell-shocked to the US and is about to be put down by the Corps.

But surprisingly nice Sergeant Reyes (Jay Hernandez) intervenes, calls the family’s parents (Thomas Haden Church, Lauren Graham), who ask their grouchy, sulky, bolshie son to take care of doggy. When he very reluctantly does, Justin’s pals Carmen (Mia Xitlali) and Chuy (Dejon LaQuake) help him out.

Robbie Amell plays Justin’s older dog handler Marine brother, and Luke Kleintank is his best buddy Tyler Harne. It’s a good cast, all settling comfortably into their well-defined roles as heroes or villains. All three kids are excellent and Church and Graham put a lot of emotional power into their performances that pays off well.

Boaz Yakin and Sheldon Lettich‘s sincere but sparky screenplay pulls itself up by its boot-strings by not being the Disney version of the boy and dog story, so that, while it’s perfectly suitable for one and all, it’s good that it’s rated PG for action violence, peril, brief language and thematic elements.

It is an adventure thriller, after all, not just a love story between a boy and a dog. As director, Boaz Yakin handles it capably, briskly and even imaginatively. With the atmosphere and emotions right, it feels good.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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