Maximum Ride

...which I never read.

On its own merits- okay acting from a young cast(a few of which are mildly familiar). Tired plot. Poor CGI. Weak script. Not especially suspenseful. No sense of humor about itself.

Feels like a failed pilot that they released on video to try to recoup some costs.

Free on Netflix and still not worth the money.

Not much to say about this awful movie. When I was in middle school my friends and I read the books together. If you love the books as much as we do, don't watch this movie. The dialogue is terrible, the actors look like they have sticks up their asses, it has awful graphics, its not true to the book, need I go on? The actors chosen for Iggy and Fang were truly dreadful, one reason being they didn't even match the description of their novel counterparts, not to mention the acting. If I could give a 0, I would.

I loved the book series so when I found out there was going to be a film I couldn't wait. Them I watched the film and felt as though someone had just thrown the book on the floor and jumped on it before brutally bashing it with a sledgehammer. In the book the main six characters had a great chemistry that was just non-existent in the film, they didn't even say Fang's name. Not once!!! How are people who haven't read the books supposed to know!!!! Also Max is one of the most Bad-A$$ in YA literature. In the film the characters lacked everything that made her Max, like the witty remarks that she is so well know for. Also the effects were terrible it would have looked better if they didn't even bother to put them in and just had the characters run around with cardboard wings taped to their backs. A book this great should be given a film that reflects it.

My quick rating - 4,4/10. Pretty bland story that really never got going. Six children genetically cross-bred with avian DNA, complete with wings, take flight around the country to discover their origins. The plot line sums it up. Problem with this movie is some subpar FX, the lack of depth (flashbacks via MTV style don't cut it) and lack of any reason to care what happens to the kids. The action, so to speak, is pointless and they don't even try to find their origins, they more or less allude to it. Visually, the sweeping camera work looks very nice over the landscapes as they fly (don't focus on them, the vfx are horrid as I said) but that cannot save a lackluster effort such as this. I read that this is a series of books that supposedly are pretty good so I assume a sequel is on the way. I won't be bothering with it if they do. Aside from the main character, Max, the bit players are just there. The kid who blows stuff up at least ended the movie with a funny line. Not really a spoiler nor does it make it worth it to watch just for that. If you know the books, you will be disappointed, and if you don't know them, you most likely still will be. I know I was.

I don't really want to trash this movie. When I saw the synopsis, I thought this was right up my alley: a sci-fi fantasy superhero action adventure with lots of girl power. It was a ride that I wanted to go on.

Now I'm on the ride, and it is giving me everything that the synopsis said it would give me, but it's not grabbing me like I would hope it would.

Another young adult book being adapted like Hunger games of Maze Runner, the movie is a about a group of kids that have been genetically altered with a series of test and now they have retractable wings (They barely used in the film). They escaped from their lab and now are in hiding, until one of them was found and kidnapped and now the rest have to save this child from the captives.

The movie does suffer from not having the same budget as the Divergent series, to name one, although I can't knock what they did with what they had. Not the most impressive production design, but it was effective.

I just felt that it did not gel or flow naturally at all. Maximum Ride force feeds the viewers a great story that's filled with cheesy dialog and corny acting. It was to the point that I almost felt I was watching a parody of a young adult book adaption, when I know that was not the intent of the production.

I don't want to be harsh on such a cool concept that was pretty well made from what looks like a shoe string budget in comparison, to others in its genre, but a lot of times it made me feel like I was trying my best to get through the book and finish, when sometime into it I became disinterested in doing so