Hard to resist those puppy-dog eyes
A boy and his dog reform each other and take down some bad guys along the way
What’s it like serving in Kandahar province? “Ruff!” Where do the snipers hide? “Roof!” What’s that stuff on the outsides of trees?
OK, let’s take it that Max (played by Carlos) is one smart dog. Trained to serve with U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Max returns with a case of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Uncontrollable (and unconsolable) after the death of his handler Kyle, Max is marked for destruction by the military until he happens upon the soldier’s teenage brother, Justin (Josh Wiggins). Dog and boy bond, and before you know it Max has a new home in East Texas.
That might seem a good place to say The End, but then you’d only have a 20-minute commercial for the valiant war dogs of the world. Max, co-written and directed by Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans, Safe), stretches the story out to 111 minutes by showing how Max both reforms the aimless life of his new master and helps take down some bad guys, including an ex-marine with a grudge against the pooch.
The result is a little on the long side. Not sure why the filmmakers thought two almost identical dogfights and bicycle chase scenes were a good idea. It’s not quite a shaggy-dog tale, but it comes close.
It’s also almost relentlessly sweet and message-y, from the Christian values family in which Justin is growing up, to the Latino neighbours who make up most of his best friends. Justin’s dad (Thomas Haden Church) is a veteran who lost a leg in the first Iraq war and now runs a storage facility. Mom (Lauren Graham) cooks and cleans and worries about her menfolk.
Chuy (Dejon LaQuake) is Justin’s best bud, a posturing but ultimately harmless kid who makes the most of his wrongside-of-the-tracks upbringing. Chuy’s tomboy cousin Carmen (Mia Xitlali) is new to the neighbourhood and knows a thing or two about training dogs (and boys). She helps Justin bring Max out of his shell, although the July 4th fireworks set the dog back more than a little.
Justin is also an amateur video game pirate, although the film takes pains to show he’s a good lad at heart. Clearly, he needs the life-affirming, straight-and-narrowing effect of a pet as much as Max needs him.
Things get tricky, however, when Kyle’s friend and fellow soldier Tyler (Luke Kleintank) returns home early from his tour of duty, suffering from a shrapnel injury and not happy to see Max repatriated as a family pet. Max, who has a preternatural sense of who’s naughty and who’s nice, snaps and barks at Tyler, which tells us everything we need to know about him.
The result is a story that should keep kids (and certainly dogs) from guessing where the plot is headed, while adults sit back and quietly urge the movie to please get a move on. But it’s hardly time wasted. You can’t do better than Church and Graham for movie parents. The kids perform admirably. And Carlos, a Belgian Malinois (think German shepherd but leaner), does a great job on the screen, alternating between cutesy moments and heroic poses.