Sounds like a Reset Xform is needed. Unfortunately this will kill the pivot, screwing up the animation. Here's a Reset Xform script that tries to avoid this problem... http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/clever-reset-xform
There are a few ways to do it. 1) Like Eric said export to FBX and import. But you will need to click on the animated meshes and flag them as "bones" for the FBX export/importer to handle them. Select the meshes, go to Animation > Bone Tools and check on "Bone On". If you don't they will probably just import as meshes…