Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Max 2: White House Hero Blu-ray Movie Review

It's a Dog's Life in the Oval Office

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 31, 2017

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.

Young TJ Bennett (Zane Austin) chafes at being the son of the President (Lochlyn Munro), because it requires him to uproot his old life, leave his familiar school and established friends, and live in the fish bowl of the White House. But TJ gets a lift when Max joins the President's security detail. Observing the new arrival's beneficial effect on his son, President Bennett decrees that Max will have new duties, which largely consist of keeping TJ amused and occupied. The chief of White House security, Agent Harring (Reese Alexander), is less than thrilled but respectfully complies.

Soon TJ has another companion in the person of Alex Bragov (Francesca Capaldi), daughter of the visiting Russian president (Andrew Kavadas), who has come to Washington to negotiate a nuclear treaty. As Alex, TJ and Max become inseparable, they also stumble on a plot to sabotage the treaty talks by persons unknown. Naturally the adults don't credit the kids' suspicions, even after an attempted kidnapping and a series of near-fatal mishaps that can hardly be a coincidence. Max routinely saves the day, and in the end the evil plot is exposed and defeated. (If you can't spot the chief baddie immediately, you haven't seen enough movies.)

Director Brian Levant specializes in helming this sort of frivolity, although he usually has a familiar star that he can humiliate with physical gags (Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way, Ice Cube in Are We There Yet?, or Jackie Chan in The Spy Next Door). Levant probably got the assignment on the strength of his success directing canines in Beethoven, and he stages the scenes capably and keeps the action moving. His biggest set pieces involve a white water rafting expedition where the raft has been sabotaged and a near-fatal mishap with a chandelier. While the perils are real, neither Levant nor his screenwriter, Stephen Altiere (author of several Scooby-Doo TV movies), takes any of it too seriously. Unlike the original Max, which began as a genuine drama, but then sacrificed credibility to over-the-top action and a proliferation of villains, Max 2 knows from the outset that it's a frivolous entertainment strictly for kids (and, of course, dog lovers).

Max 2: White House Hero Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

Max 2: White House Hero Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Max 2: White House Hero Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Max 2: A Ruff Life (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:48): This featurette focuses on the team of four dogs that take turns playing Max.



• Kids on the Case: Making of Max 2 (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:00): Stars Zane Austin and Francesca Capaldi narrate this otherwise typical EPK, which includes multiple excerpts from an interview with director Levant.



• Trailers: In addition to the trailers listed below, at startup the disc plays trailers for Cartoon Network's Justice League Action and the commemorative release of Wonder Woman.


• The Jetsons & WWE: Robo- Wrestlemania
• DC All Access App
• LEGO City Undercover
• DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year

Max 2: White House Hero Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.