Wispy Max Keeble (Alex D. Linz) is ecstatic about entering junior high. Having giving up the geekdom of playing in the band, he's got a hip new wardrobe and is hoping to score a date with the ninth-grade Britney Spears clone. But Max's best friends are a pudgy outcast called Robe (Josh Peck), because of his unfortunate attire, and an elfin klutz (the adorable Zena Grey) who's permanently attached to her clarinet. On day one, Max becomes the "announced" target of the reigning bully and then discovers that the power-hungry principal (a wryly outlandish Larry Miller) is misappropriating school funds and is the lynchpin behind the scheme to bulldoze the next-door animal shelter. With a family relocation to Chicago pending, Max decides to take some Parthian shots; what ensues is a series of madcap kiddie capers that are for the most part uproarious. Director Tim Hill tickles the ribs while punching all the right moral buttons. At the Apple Valley, Entertainment, Holiday, Hoyts Providence 16, Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.