6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Hero dog Max is now in Washington, D.C. serving on the President's Secret Service detail. When a foreign leader arrives with his precocious daughter, Alex, tensions arise between both countries. First Son TJ, along with Max and Alex, uncover a dangerous plot that puts both kids and both nations in jeopardy.
Starring: Zane Austin, Francesca Capaldi, Lochlyn Munro, Andrew Kavadas, Reese AlexanderVideo codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
As I said in reviewing the 2015 family feature Max, dogs are always popular in
movies, which is
no doubt why the film did well enough (on a modest production budget) to spawn a sequel.
Going into Max 2: White House Hero, my biggest question was how the writers manage to get
the titular hound away from its adopted family for a new adventure in, of all places, the White
House. They do so by imposing "maternity leave" on the canine assigned to the President's
Secret Service detail, necessitating a temporary replacement—and we're asked to believe that, in
all of the United States and its territories, the only dog properly qualified for the task is Max, the
Belgian Malinois formerly assigned to a Marine combat unit and now living with the Wincotts,
the family of Max's handler, who was killed in action. A few lines of dialogue explain that
the Wincotts have no problem lending out their beloved pet, and it appears that Max doesn't miss
them either, because the fickle pooch takes to the First Family like he's always been a member.
(Apparently the canine PTSD that Max experienced after the death of Sgt. Kyle Wincott in
combat is all healed up.)
The original Max was a kids' film with adult aspirations, but Max 2 is Disney Channel fare from
first to last. All of the adults are caricatures who, for the most part, are good-natured and well-intentioned, and the kids struggle with typical childhood
problems, while experiencing wish-fulfillment adventures. But the story always comes back to Max, because, like I said, dogs are
popular in movies.
Captured on Alexa by cinematographer Jan Kiesser (Fright Night), Max 2 arrives on this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray with a clean, sharp and detailed image that is unfailingly bright and cheerful, as befits a good-natured kiddie film. The fine detail of the (re-created) White House decor is readily visible, as are the rocks and vegetation at the Vancouver locations that double for Camp David. The rafting sequence—filmed, as the cast and crew assure us in the extras, in a real river—are effectively realistic. The photography is so revealing that, if you look closely, you can spot where different dogs are playing Max. In an obvious choice, the film's palette is dominated by variations of red, white and blue. Bucking Warner's recent trend of mastering lesser films at high average bitrates (e.g., Fist Fight), Max 2 has been squeezed onto a BD-25 with an average bitrate of 17.96 Mbps. The compressionist has capably allocated the bit budget between the film's action sequences and its quiet scenes of dialogue, for an acceptable encode.
There's nothing remarkable about Max 2's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA. It has the fidelity and dynamic range one expects from a contemporary production backed by a major studio, and the eventful sequences—e.g., the rafting near-disaster and a Tschaikovsky performance that takes an unexpected turn—have the requisite, if unexceptional, impact. Dialogue is clearly rendered, along with Max's repertoire of barks, whines and other canine vocalizations. Randy Edelman, whose knack for mixing comedy with adventure has complemented such films as Shanghai Noon, supplied the reassuringly upbeat orchestral score.
After its plot went off the deep end, the original Max regained a touch of gravitas by featuring
photographs of real combat dogs and their military units during the closing credits. Max 2 tries
something similar with pictures of past U.S. Presidents and their pets, but it doesn't have the
same effect, especially with the inclusion of Vladimir Putin, who appears to be embracing a dog
owned by the first President Bush. Putin's presence is presumably an acknowledgment that the
film's Russian president is partly based on him, with his love of horseback riding and his affinity
for displays of physical prowess, but the image strikes a sour note. As for Max 2, it's a harmless
diversion, but mostly an excuse for the canine cast to strut their stuff. Buyer's choice.
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