Kids, military service dogs and Marines. How can you criticize a combo like that? You know exactly what to expect when you buy your tickets to see Max — tears flowing from start to finish — even through the credits, which run along side photos of military hero dogs through the decades.

Max is a Belgian Malinois that has been trained as a military scout, and is serving in Afghanistan. Eventually he comes home, and his adjustment is not easy. I don’t want to tell you too much about the plot, because there’s a scene at the beginning that is absolutely devastating, and the less you know about it, the better. The film does poignantly show that dogs suffer from grief and PTSD too, and it’s no less heartbreaking because they’re animals.

In fact, and I hate to divulge this, but I frequently watch, unmoved, while human limbs are severed and throats are slit in violent battles scenes. But show me a dog or other animal in distress, and I can’t control the tears. Most filmmakers realize that audiences react this way, and some use death or torture of animals to shamelessly manipulate viewers. Max, as directed by Boaz Yakin, doesn’t feel so manipulative. It depicts the dog doing what he was bred to do, and it’s the emotional human responses that make the points — both positive and negative.

Now I’m not going to lie and say that this will be a major awards contender. Technically, it’s not a great film. The dialogue is cliche and doesn’t give fine actors like Thomas Haden Church and Lauren Graham much to work with. Also, the young actors aren’t quite ready for major roles on the big screen, although they’re fine for television.

But again, Max is about kids, Marines and service dogs, which is a winning combination under almost any circumstances. I’m of the opinion that more resources should be spent on old fashioned family movies like Max, and fewer on edgy, disturbing, hardcore R-rated films. Here’s hoping it does well enough at the box office to encourage the production of more films with the heart and spirit of Max.

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Rated PG

1 hour 51 minutes

https://youtu.be/vVKoMXwy0EA

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