This documentary showcases basketball player Michael Jordan's awe-inspiring moves, providing behind-the-scenes and on-the-court action, including footage of Jordan and the Chicago Bulls going head-to-head against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals. Phil Jackson and Bob Costas are interviewed (among others), and the awesome soundtrack includes songs by Earth, Wind and Fire, Fatboy Slim and Freddie King.
Essentially just a promotional film for Jordan as a product. It plays like a commercial for itself.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
7 Feb 2001
rotten:
Michael to the Max is, aside from the IMAX process, the kind of routine documentary a local TV station might air on a Sunday afternoon when a ballgame is rained out.
– Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle,
7 Feb 2001
rotten:
Michael Jordan, sports icon, gets another buffing. Michael Jordan, person, remains private and just a little bit richer.
– Liam Lacey,
Globe and Mail,
5 Apr 2002
rotten:
Unlike Michael Jordan, this large-format movie demonstrates mostly unrealized potential.
– Lisa Alspector,
Chicago Reader,
21 Mar 2007
rotten:
An honorific but unmoving portrait of the Chicago Bulls' No. 23.