Max Keeble's Big Move (2001) User Reviews

Fair slapstick movie

[Dhrivnak · 5/10 · 5 October 2001]

I took my 12-year-old son at his request to the movie. I would have to say he enjoyed it more than I. It is aimed at juvenile humor and while not bad it has few redeeming qualities. As many such files the kids are very smart and clever while all the adults are totally inept. I will say it did have a good and appropriate ending.

Not a horrible kiddie flick, but...

[matrixchic007 · 6/10 · 5 August 2002]

Max Keeble. Well then. Not horrible, but definitely not the best. The jokes are O.K., the cast isn't too bad (where have I seen all them before?), and the food fight was a hit. However, the little scenes between "Max" and "Jenna" weren't very good at all. Come on, what 9th grader would actually notice a 7th grader. Possible, not likely. It's a movie, though. I guess the directors can have their fun. This movie wasn't totally bad, it just needs a little more...something. 6 out of 10 for Max Keeble.

Cute and funny...

[srmccarthy · 6/10 · 6 October 2001]

It is not an award winner, but it it pretty funny. It is VERY silly (intentionally)! Non-stop stupidity. It seems that Disney may be making a come back. I must warn you, there is at least one curse word, and there are many acts of violence.

Amusing for Adults

[Nezz · 25 February 2002]

Amusing for adults, a blast and a half for pre-puberty members of the family, Max Keeble is just good junior high fun.

Resiliently taking it all in stride, Max (and friends) absorb typical 6th grader abuse: the school yard bully, the angry principal, retaliatory ice cream man, and a looming move out of state. Each of these "villains" play rather cartoony. Larry Miller as always nails the dimwitted, egocentric, greedy, fumbling principal. (He's also very good in Princess Diaries.) Noel Fisher covers the leather jacket, wallet-chain-wearing bully role well too.

The triangle of friends, in contrast to the buffoony bad guys, hang closer to the kinds of kids we know (or used to be).

So when Max learns that his family will suddenly be moving to Chicago, he decides to return a few transgressions inflicted on himself and his friends. Ah, the sweet tingles of revenge ("Home Alone" style). "I don't just have a plan ... I have a planetarium!!!"

And so begins a three-day extravaganza for which the bumbling bad guys are just not ready. Eventually, Max gets more than his original bargain and finds himself teetering precariously on the brink of a friendless abyss.

"Any kid can make a mess. It takes man to clean it up."

Some somewhat stereotypical themes are peppered tastefully with carefully shot fun, good acting, and a strong sound track that accentuates the folly.

I simply love the scene where the school's sexy science teacher strolls across the classroom setting each Bunsen burner a light as she passes, simply because she is perceived to be the "hottest" teacher in the school.

Coincidentally, Alex D. Linz and Zena Grey (Max Keeble and best friend Megan) enjoyed my particular screening from the front row.As the credits rolled, they stood up and boogied to the soundtrack. A good time, take the kids.

This movie was just as terrible as Beethoven 3 and 4!

[swingirl · 1/10 · 11 August 2002]

Disney usually makes good movies but this movie was terrible. Yes it was a good story line but the actors you used and what was up with that big frog? You could have used that same story line and made that movie great. I'm sorry but I usually don't critisize movies like this. Just I don't think that was a good movie.

This Movie is Good!

[annie_sms_hottie · 6/10 · 27 December 2005]

Max Keeble's Big Move is a funny movie for kids. I think that because of it's comedy and the features of it, it is a fantastic movie for kids! One of my favorite parts in the movie is where Max (Alex D. Linz) begins to noticed how much he actually likes Megan (Zena Gray). Another part is where Max (Alex D. Linz) gets back at all of his enemies, like the Ice Cream Man (Jamie Kennedy), Troy McGinty (Noel Fisher), The Principal Elliot T. Jindraike (Larry Miller) and Dobbs (Orlando Brown). Those parts are the most "off the wall" funny!! All in all I think that this movie is a good movie for kids. I love it, it is one of my favorite movies to watch!...Max Keeble's Big Move.

Boring as guano

[Ted_E_Bare · 1/10 · 9 January 2002]

Films like these are the reason I hate kids films. It was too formulaic to raise even the faintest smile. Steriotypical school, friends, bullies and situations made this a movie to avoid. My advise to you if you have been asked to come and see this film is that you should demand that you are compensated for this waste of your valuable time.

Revenge fantasy of every victim of bullies.

[Ddey65 · 6/10 · 29 December 2005]

Alex D. Linz plays Max Keeble, a paperboy entering Curtis Junior High School, who thinks 7th Grade is going to be a fresh start and easy entry to coolness. His mother(former Saturday Night Live member Nora Dunn) is a suddenly happy homemaker because she finally got the chance to arrange the house the way she wants it, and his father(Robert Carradine) earns a living wearing goofy costumes for advertisers. His two geeky friends are the proudly grotesque "Robe" played by Nickelodeon comic-relief Josh Peck, and Megan(Zena Grey), a girl with a clarinet and a crush on Max. Unfortunately, he finds the promise of a fresh start is a false promise when he and his friends are attacked by two bullies -- Troy McGinty(Noel Fisher), and Dobbs(Orlando Brown, in his second villain role). And what does Principal Elliot T. Jindraike(Larry Miller) do when Max is thrown into a mud pit and a dumpster during assembly? You guessed it, he punishes Max, rather than the kid who threw him there, just like many school faculty members do in real life. Suddenly, he finds that due to his father's job the family has to move to Chicago. At first he hates the idea, but then realizes that he can use it to take advantage of his tormentors, from McGinty to Dobbs to Jindraike, to a local ice cream vendor with a grudge against him for getting the health department on his case.

This movie is quite a rarity for kid-flicks, because instead of suggesting so-called "alternatives" to handling bullies, it proudly advocates revenge. Not necessarily going to school with two compact machine guns and blowing away every S.O.B. at school, but revenge nevertheless. Contrary to a previous poster, not all school kids wear uniforms, bullies DO operate freely in our schools with or without the sanction of school faculty members, and some school faculty members ARE just as corrupt as Principal Jindraike, if not worse. The only way he could be MORE evil is if he were collaborating with the bullies somehow. Luckily, this is not the case -- he simply doesn't care what they do. The kids should probably be lucky there are no teachers who sexually molest them there, because Jindraike would definitely find some way to dump on them too. The only students he IS protecting are three high school football players pretending to be large Slavic foreign exchange students, as part of a plot to get a football stadium for the school on the grounds of a nearby animal shelter that Max, Megan, and Robe are trying to protect. Otherwise he's almost as bad as the colorful bullies who rule the student body. Overall, Jindraike is a complete a**hole, who's only out for himself! The REAL jock, is actually a retired football legend turned school superintendent(Clifton Davis), who's seeking to turn his job over to one of the principals. This guy actually cares more about education than Principal Jindraike, who habitually invents his own words. Even the "Slavs" get tired of the corruption of the school. If you're looking for a jock-bashing movie, don't look here.

Of course the whole story turns upside down just before Max finds out the Keebles aren't moving to Chicago after all, and he has to save Megan & Robe from the people who kept victimizing all of them. One thing that bothers me most about this movie is that Max thinks he should take responsibility for what McGinty, Dobbs, and Jindraike do to the kids in school and the nearby animal shelter, when he really shouldn't. Another thing is that many of the deleted scenes should've been added to the original movie. Other than that, it's still relatively enjoyable.

Nostalgia film

[CinedeEden · 3/10 · 26 October 2022]

I remeber seeing this as a kid most likely a re run on disney channel around 2005-2007. This was during "The golden age of Disney Channel" and I could have sworn the actress that played Megan in the film was played by alyson stoner (another disney star) but i was mistaken it was played by no other than Zena Gray who also starrted in the shaggy dog (2005) with tim allen. Besides the thats so raven star most of the actors of the film are mostly unknown and maybe were known when they were cast in the film. Josh Peck on the other hand really stands out now a days but back then he was a nickoldeon star in the hit show drake and josh. Anyways... younger me loved this film for some odd reason but taking a second look as an adult its not that good the entertainment is still their and that twinkle of nostalgia is their but the film aint the same.

Good, but kind of "over the top"

[carolinapereira1995 · 6/10 · 9 August 2005]

This movie was really funny. It is great for those kids who are just starting junior high. I just had one problem with it: it was sort of over the top. Everything, the story, the characters,and even the way some of the people represented their role. Alex kind of put too much effort in showing how he was feeling, so it ended up looking like he didn't really mean what he was saying. When Max says one of his lines, they sometimes sound like a speech. Oh, and there could have been a little more romance between Max and Megan. She really liked him, so they should have done more than just talk to each other, be friends and hold hands. Sure, they're only in 6th grade, but after all, they were twelve-year-olds. Disney movies sometimes show younger kids in romance, so there should have been a little more of that in this movie, too. But the rest was great. The bullies, the principal and the food1 fight!!!!!!!!! I know anyone will like this movie.

Don't waste your time and money

[crstr · 2/10 · 27 June 2006]

First of all, this movie is not funny. If you are looking for a comedy, do not choose this one! The screenwriter uses old jokes that are no longer funny any more: Food fight, falling down into the rubbish bin, slapping some ice cream to somebody's face...And poor villains called 'Evil ice cream man' or 'McKinty' who's afraid of a dumb frog called 'MacGoogles'. The real villain is Max Keeble. This movie is making kids dumb! And insulting Chinese Kung Fu like creating a palm called 'paperboy palm' to hit the so called 'Evil ice cream man'.Plus bad acting and disgusting crude 'humor'. The MPAA should rate this movie R: Strong violence, crude humor and making us dumb. It's not a family movie, it's not even a comedy. It's nothing! You just see some kids dancing around and adding some music to it.Maybe it's musical. The worst musical show on earth! But I don't want to put shame on any genre of movies, so it's in the 'dumb genre'. I rather be bored than watching a movie like that, do not waste 86 precious minutes of your life!Thank you for your cooperation!

Greatest Film of All Time

[maxlovstedt · 10/10 · 29 March 2019]

This movie has Tony Hawk,Josh Peck, AND Reese from Malcolm in the Middle. This film singlehandedly made 2002 the golden age of movies.

"Phattitude"

[merv1225 · 7/10 · 29 June 2002]

This is a surprisingly entertaining little film about one kid's first week in junior high school, and his determination to start the new school year with "phattitude", Alex D. Linz is extremely likeable in the role of Max Keeble, and his charm and energy carry the film. The adult characters are overly broad, but that's all part of the fun here. Max learns a few lessons along the way, and the overall message is a positive one.

A shallow attempt at documenting the harsh realities of middle school.

[graduationday06 · 3/10 · 20 February 2006]

Anyone who's been to middle school will be able to tell you that it's no piece of cake. The basic idea of KEEBLE was to show everyone's dream of actually getting revenge on all the obstacles of middle school, and that's actually a premise that can be done well, if it has a good writer. Unfortunately, the film had to be done by Disney, which means that the possibilities are at a limit, and that anyone who enjoys it the most will be little kids who "think" they know what middle school is like. Any elementary schooler who watches this movie will think they've got middle school planned out, but in a few years, they'll find that they had it all wrong.

Max Keeble is supposed to be your typical unpopular kid, who after finding out that he'll be moving in a week, decides to live his remaining time at middle school to the fullest. And to do that, Max is going to get sweet revenge. Now we all know that revenge is sweet, but not when it could get you expelled from school, or even arrested. Several of Max's revenge plots should leave him in prison, and since Disney would never let that happen, Max gets away with everything. In a very embarrassing eighty-six minutes, we are exposed to Max ensuing chaos in his classroom, breaking into the school at night, and joyriding on a bulldozer.

Another major problem with MAX KEEBLE'S BIG MOVE is its large amount of unrealistic characters. Troy McGinty, the school bully, gets away with harassing a student everyday. He even admits that he beats up kids to the school guidance counselor, and yet she does nothing. Dobbs, the school's money-maker (umm, what?) gets away with stealing money from kids. So it's bad if money is stolen at a bank, but no big deal if it's done at a middle school? That makes sense. Principal Jindraike and the Evil Ice Cream Man are both supposed to be mean, but we see them being so cruel that they really should be spending time.

My least favorite part of the movie would have to be the fact that the Keebles find out they're moving a week before it happens. This would never happen, as it's not that easy to find a home quickly. Even worse is that we hardly ever see them packing. Yeah, I may over analyze some things, but that is no reason for an error that large to be overlooked. This "comedy" hardly has any laughs in it, and when I found myself laughing, it was usually at how ridiculous some scenes were. Basically, the only thing this movie has going for it are some good actors. KEEBLE does not deserve any special treatment for being a kids' movie. That's no excuse.

JUNIOR HIGH HYPERBOLE - Lighten up !

[cmkmhall · 21 October 2001]

Take it easy, folks !! This is only a MOVIE, and this one is intended to be a fanciful exaggeration from the word go. I took my 11 yo son to see it, and he had no problem understanding that.

Isn't this movie supposed to be an extreme comic view of the unfair world of junior high from an underdog's point of view? Think of The Three Stooges - did anybody take their scripts to task? No, but everybody LAUGHED!

Better judgment triumphs in the end in most respects, in Max Keeble's Big Move. And Max earns respect not because he's the toughest, but because his turnabout beats the bullies at their own game, and because he won't let his buddies take the rap alone.

This movie, and Shrek, See Spot Run, Cats & Dogs, and Spy Kids, are some of the most enjoyable movies I have seen in the last 10 months. Not since "What Women Want" or "The Brothers" have I seen an adult movie that was near as funny as any of these kiddie movies. (Okay, add in "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou".)

I only hope that overly critical attitudes aren't congenital.

puerile, predictable, cliche humor

[davidkangell · 2/10 · 21 October 2001]

You've seen it all before: the cafeteria food fight, the stupid, egocentric adult authority figures, the boy smitten by the sexy older girl who realizes the girl who really loves him is his not-so-sexy but loyal friend of many years, the animal sanctuary threatened with destruction that the boy must save, the cruel, sadistic older boy who has it in for our hero, etc. etc. This is a predictable, totally unoriginal movie which is composed almost entirely of such cliches and sight gags. Save your money. (by the way, my kids loved it)

Good preteen movie but weak ending

[colinrfricke · 7/10 · 17 April 2021]

I watched this when I was just entering my teens and enjoyed it back in 01. I decided to watch it and feel it has withstood the test of time. The concept is a clever one, 12 year old Max endured a terrible slew of bad characters in his new school. He figures out from his parents he is moving so he plants revenge on all his enemies. His plan goes wrong when he learns he is not moving anymore. I though Linz was a great actor in this, he fits the late 90s early 00s preteen boy motif pretty spot on (spiked hair, cargo pants: I had the look too). Other than that there is nothing unusually special to the story, however that is not necessarily a bad thing: the story moves and is funny (McGoogles is me name) and in certain areas quite clever (the stock market bully was a unique character).

My criticism is that the ending was weak and cliched. Max faces his bullies (and nearly gets the life beaten out of him by two older teenagers a direction Disney would never go today) but the whole marching band school gang up scene was a little much. The ending with the animal farm and principal was also too over the top. Nevertheless it is a movie designed for preteen boys (I just feel this is more of a boy movie but I could be wrong) so in that regard it is not THAT over the top. It is also not stupid like more modern movies for this age group (ie. No over the top silly slapstick actors except for the ice cream guy albeit mildly slapstick).

So in the end it is a good movie that took a stand run of the mill ending. Worth watching and worth your time, certainly better than 95% of the movies in this genre but the weak ending ruined what I felt could have been a much lasting and memorable film.

Desperate times call for screwy measures

[StevePulaski · 5/10 · 19 November 2011]

Max Keeble's Big Move seems like a combination of several different films and none of them worth watching. To begin with, movie titles like this perplex me. Who is Max Keeble, why is he being introduced abruptly, and why is his "move" film worthy? It's always a hit or miss state when you get a movie named after a character you never heard of before. But not just a movie named after an unknown character, but with a film title like this you'd expect to have some acquaintance with the title character before. It's stating he is making a "big move," so you'd assume that with a prior introduction you'd have some essence to what that "big move" might be.

Upon seeing this advertised years ago I had a thought in the back of my mind that if the film would become very successful Max Keeble would be the next character to have his very own Television show. By watching the film, that almost appears that is what they were going for. It has a Disney Channel vibe to it that's difficult to explain. It's corny, awkward in places, uninspired, and appears to be colored in with a crayon.

But this isn't the film for me. While I grew up around the time of this film and tend to enjoy childhood nostalgia, take my review of Good Burger for example, I couldn't find much use for this. It's odd and out of place. It tells the journey of a tween named Max Keeble (Linz) who is entering the dreaded middle school with his friends Robe (Peck) and Megan (Grey).

Max learns that his favorite animal shelter he helps out at is closing, bullies at school only grow meaner when the grade gets higher, his corrupt Principal Jindrake (Miller) is up to no good, and the ice cream man won't stop harassing children.

Man, Max has a ton on his plate. And on top of that he may be moving to Chicago and he desperately wants to win the heart of a Freshman girl who is carelessly ripped from other better kids films.

This is another one of those teenage films where the lead character treats middle school like the depths of hell. While I hated middle school, and it frustrated me beyond belief, I should be grateful for the fact that I didn't go through the harassment and stress that Max did. For God's sakes they don't even show the amount of homework he must get too. Fifth grade to sixth is a big jump in terms of workload, and not obligatory, over-dramatic situations.

Will the target audience enjoy it? Probably so, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade to be exact. Will older kids like it? If they grew up with it, yes. Will adults like it? Pretty unlikely. Max Keeble's Big Move is truly harmless, but redundant, and at a mere eighty-six minutes it doesn't capture the "big move" too well as much as it captures ones chaotic, over-exaggerated journey through middle school.

One last thought; I always wondered if movie characters are aware of other films. If so, I'd recommend to Max Keeble to pull a "Ferris Bueller" some days. These kinds of middle school pressures deserve some days off.

Starring: Alex D. Linz, Josh Peck, Zena Grey, Larry Miller, and Jamie Kennedy. Directed by: Tim Hill.

Alex D. Linz was the only great actor in this movie.

[PerfectDarkZeroFan · 7/10 · 27 December 2005]

Well maybe Zena Grey had some talent here but thats just about it. As usually this is the second Alex D. Linz movie that I say was only a good movie because he was in it; like Home Alone 3 and Full Court Miracle. This is a great movie but could have been better if they replaced every character except Alex Linz, Zena Grey, and maybe the principle. I find Josh Peck very annoying as I usually do; he screwed this movie up very badly; man I just hate Robe. But on the movies storyline which makes up Max Keeble goes to this animal shelter to see the animals but the principle buys the rented property and Max tries to protest but that fails when the principle takes down his posters and then Max does it his own way by sneaking into the school at night to checkout the funds for the school and put something is his mouth-spray to attract the animals; and it goes on from there between the feud between Max and the principle.

Dumbing down a 7th grade audience

[bcfremeau · 3/10 · 1 October 2001]

Who is supposed to enjoy this movie? Kids under 12? There's nothing fun for them except the inevitable and overwrought food-fight. Teens? Forget about it -- too lame. So how about the pre-teens, 7th and 8th graders who are peers of the main characters? Well, first of all, do they even go to the movies? They certainly don't want to drag their parents to this one, and parents everywhere will be relieved. This movie stunk. The jokes fall flat on their face, the evil ice-cream man is just plain dumb, the story is a jumbled mess, the 9th grade dream girls look like they're in their 20's, 'Lil Romeo's 'lil cameo is silly, and alas, Max Keeble just isn't cute enough. This movie needs a serious rewrite to take advantage of potentially fun characters like the principal and Max's gross-out slob best friend Robe. And dump the director who looks like he was in an MTV editing contest for most overdone style. It's remotely possible that this film will find an audience -- maybe I'm just out of touch with the kids these days. But it would be pretty exciting to actually assume a 7th grade audience is wise and make something cool, clever and entertaining instead of this slop.

A max of fun (tv)

[leplatypus · 7/10 · 8 August 2013]

As the last day of my 2013 summer vacation, my program was to watch "Todo sobre mi madre" as Penelope is the actress of my heart. But after a deep inspection of my parental DVDs, I realize that they didn't have it. Sad as never, I started to zap the TV and this kid movie picked my interest: it was funny, speedy and above all, the directing was very inventive and talented. In short, it was a bit like one of my favorite show, "Parker lewis" but not set in high school but in elementary school instead! As I missed the beginning, I waited less than one hour (reading the Jedi making-of paperback) and I caught it for good at the Disney+1 channel.

It was indeed a great movie: the kids were very good as well as the adult cast. It will be interesting to discover what career they will finally built! Maybe the characters are unidimensional but at least, they pick the right people for the job: the director is ridiculous, Amber is a sexy science teacher, and the terror of teens in the Shameless show is indeed the terror of the playground!

The story was interesting for me as I have always liked the ones that depict school like a fantastic universe where everything can happen and where we can share experience with wonderful supportive friends. Like the above mentioned Parker Lewis, it's exactly the thing here and around this, there is really a plot: everything can explode as the boy leaves town but he must finally be responsible after all! In fact, the movie deals wisely with a lot of values: friendship, parenthood, school finances. But it's not heavy as things are always depicted with fun.

I think that it's my 1st Tim Hill's movie but this guy should be given his chance as he really transcends his material: from flat words, his camera found always the ultimate angle to tell them. Thus, the movie is dynamic, inventive, has fantastic visual and it was the perfect backup for my Penelope longing.

Oh my god I cannot believe I am writing a review for this loonie bin of a movie

[coreym-5 · 3/10 · 3 February 2009]

If I could give this movie a -10, then -10 it would be. I was dumb enough (at the age of 10) to rent this movie from a video rental, only to discover that several years later, guess what movie wins? Cool As Ice.

Now, if you read my other reviews,you know I can put up with some Bad movies. I've seen Good Burger, Juno, Home Alone 4, Air Buddies, and Cabin Boy, but this one is worse than all of those COMBINED. You can tell this movie is gonna be bad just by the front cover. Half - Jap looking kid has carved words in his chest (supposedly using a knife) while standing in front of the most bland looking girl in the world and a seemingly anorexic fat kid who bears a frightening resemblance to Josh from Drake And Josh. Oh, wait! That is him!

The movie is even worse. Some retard kid is picked on my an ever bigger retard who's afraid of a frog that looks like it's from The Kid A Littles. Later on, he sneaks into the junkyard and pours ice cream all over some french guy and Cuba Gooding Jr. Do I need to say more?

Anyways, this movie is just BAD BAD BAD. If you want a good bad movie that's actually OK in some parts, rent Good Burger. I mean, come on. It's Keenan and Kel, who can go wrong?

Terrific

[xrdax · 10/10 · 21 July 2002]

Max Keeble's Big Move was an excellent movie! I thought it was very funny and that even though some people cannot relate to him,it still appeals to all ages. At my movie theater when it first came out,it was really hard to get tickets. High school and middle schoolers were in line too. The movie and the school it was taken in,relate very much to my middle school here. I just don't know what else to say but that I loved it.

Cute and nice...

[RosanaBotafogo · 7/10 · 3 December 2022]

Cute and nice... After a depressing first day of school, bullied seventh grader Max Keeble learns he's moving to a new city in a week. Instead of putting up with the normal routine at school, he starts to get revenge on all the people who bullied him. After creating all sorts of chaos, Max discovers that he is not moving and must face the consequences of his actions.

Cute full of bullying, in social justice and even revolts me, but like every cute little Disney movie, it has that cute twist that we love, a light revenge, more like a moral lesson, very nice to watch, silly, cute and nice... Good...

Oh Please

[clayboy2007 · 2/10 · 7 October 2001]

This looks like "Snow Day" mixed with "Matilda". This movie is way dumb. Worse than "Home Alone 3". This movie has bad acting and the plot sucks. What a waste of film and bad use for perfectly good box office space. No sequel! 2/10