In case it helps your movie going experience, Max stands for Mysterious Alien Creature. That's right. It's an acronym, just like another similar movie by the title of E.T., an acronym for Extra Terrestrial. That's only the beginning of the blatant rip offs in this movie. There are some things in this movie that are very different than E.T., but overall it's a blatant attempt at co-opting E.T.'s success.
The cool thing about this movie is that it's about a disabled boy in a wheelchair. You don't see too many movies starring disabled main characters. Too bad they wasted it on this bizarre movie. The main problem is that the aliens don't look cute at all. They look like monkeys who've been shaved bald. I'll take my monkeys hairy, thank you.