Max Keeble's Big Move

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.

Max Keebles Big Move, is a very funny family movie, kids will enjoy along with the rest of the family, the movie is based on a boy named max ( alex linz) who is told he is moving to chicago, max really doesn't like the idea as he just started his first week at high school along with best friends megan (zena grey) and robe ( josh peck) this is supposedly his year in his town starting high school and making good friends, out of spite of moving he takes advantage of the fact that he will be in chicago after the first week of high school.So max gets revenge on all of the bully's, i wont say no-more you must watch it i have watched this over 100 times, i think i need a new copy!

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.

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.

This movie had a lot of laughs for a younger audience, and was entertaining. The young actors including Alex D. Linz and Zena Grey weren't bad. The movie wasn't boring, and kept the story moving along rather well. This movie is a good one for around eight year olds- ten year olds, or maybe eleven. I give Max Keeble's Big Move a 7 out of 10. :)