Max

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Movie Grade: B

Review: Quite Good, if faulted movie. 

One of the strongest points of the film is simply the idea of a film about a military animal who suffers from a horrible experience he saw during the war is a fascinating and great idea for the movie. This idea is handled great as well. The film is at it's best when focusing on this idea. 

The relationship between the boy and the dog is also handled very well, and even if we've seen it a thousand times before. It is a believable friendship that does not feel forced in any way. The kid and his parents also seems like believable parent-child relationships.

There are however two big faults with this movie. The first is the inclusion of a villain, and a weak one at that. The dog's trauma, and relationship with the kid are both strong enough to carry the film, and the villain just seems tacked on and unnecessary. These are easily the weakest scenes of the movie. The second is one of the main kids friends, it is obvious the this character is supposed to be cool and hip, but he just isn't. This character can just be annoying whenever he is on screen. It is obvious that director/writer Boaz Yankin simply doesn't know how to write for this type of character. Both these faults can really hurt the film at times.

Overall if you can get past those two big faults this is quite a good movie, that I would recommend.

-Michael J. Ruhland