Review of Mary and Max (2009) by Tibor B — 26 Mar 2011

Mary and Max begins during the 70s with a young girl named Mary Daisy Dinkle (Toni Collette). She is a different little girl, much unlike any of her classmates at school, or any young child her age for that matter. She has no friends, and is 8 years old while living in Australia with her alcoholic mother who does not have time for things such as taking care of a child. Mary's father is also distracted with his work and life, so it is needless to say that Mary is a lonely child that has nothing but chocolate and her favorite TV show. But one day Mary picks a name out of a Manhattan phone book and decides to write this man with the hope that he will be her friend. This man is Max Jerry Horovitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has many life struggles of his own. Under stress Max commonly has mental breakdowns, which is what he gets when he receives this letter from Mary asking him to befriend her. While Max is constantly working on controlling his weight, watching the lottery using the same numbers every time, he also shares love for chocolate with Mary, and the same TV show. So he writes back to Mary with some chocolate saying that he will be her friend, starting a 20 year friendship with letters, but never meeting one another in person. But Mary and Max soon realize that even though they do not see each other, their friendship means a lot more than it may seem.

Wow, I honestly have no idea where to start with reviewing this film. Well, it seems that critics and viewers alike have all been arguing over whether or not Mary and Max is a better film than Up. It is an understandable comparison considering Up follows the relationship between an older man and a young boy, while this follows an older man and a younger girl, at the beginning at least. So I suppose I am here to answer the big question, and seeing as I gave both the films perfect scores, I had to sit awhile and think about it after finishing Mary and Max. But my conclusion is that neither are the better film. Even though they are both animated, I think they are just way too different to compare. Both films are trying to attract an entirely different audience, and that has to be taken into consideration when comparing two films. Up is obviously a film for children, but it also packs the emotion that can speak to adults as well. Mary and Max on the other hand is not at all for children. While animated films tend to have the reputation of all being for children, in my opinion there is way too much siggestive material in Mary and Max for most young children. And this is what makes the two films so hard to compare. I suppose that if I could only keep one of the two films, I would most likely choose Up. But in the end both films are so brilliant there is no need to waste breath debating on which is better, because they are truly great films and that is all that should matter.

Now on to what I actually thought of Mary and Max. As I mentioned earlier, don't watch this film with your young children assuming that it is perfectly clean being animated, because it most certainly is not. It as actually really a depressing film, far too much for children, and it was even sad for me at times, and that is okay. Being the writer and the director, it is clear that Adam Elliot is going for a very meaningful film, which sometimes requires the story to either end in sadness, or have a lot of sadness along the way. To be honest, that is one of the most amazing parts of the films. It is so well written, and the character developement is so incredible to the point that the audience does not care that they are watching little clay figures. If you sit and think about it that is quite amazing thought. I mean we are sitting here completely moved, and drawn in by the lives of these two characters, and I am sure even some people were brought to tears by this film. But for what? For little clay figures, that's what. And to me that is an absolutely phenomenal job done by Adam Elliot. Enough cannot be said about what he has done here. His message was displayed so perfectly here, and I found it so moving the way over the years, through some happiness and much sadness, the two characters really only had each other. This is the only major work Adam Elliot has ever done over his career, well besides the Academy Award winning short film Harvie Krumpet, and I am certainly hoping that this will not be the last film Elliot ever does. He is clearly good at what he does, and I would hate to see this kind of talent go to waste.

Just before seeing Mary and Max I watched Coraline, which is what made me completely fall in love with this stop-motion animation. I love the concept of the whole thing, and the way the characters are made, and how they move is beautiful to me. Just strictly by the look, I think this is probably my favorite type of animation. It really draws me into the film, I could watch these just for the animation, and this was one of the best, if not the best that I have seen so far. Not to mention a fantastic selection for the voices in this film. I have always been a big Philip Seymour Hoffman fan, but I had a hard time recognizing his voice in this, not at all changing the fact that he did a wonderful job with the part of Max. Even if I try hard I cannot think of another actor that I would rather play the part, and that is saying something. Toni Collette was great as well. Again, even though these are just tiny clay figures, I can hear the pain in her voice throughout the entire film, and I can see the emotion on her face. It just never stopped making my jaw drop. Morgan Freeman is always credited with being the best narrator for any film, but I am here to say that Barry humphries is a great one as well. And it made me laugh when I read that he plays Bruce the shark in Finding Nemo. Eric Bana played a small part in Damien, but he did well overall. And Bethany Whitmore playing Mary as a child was just as wonderful as Toni Collette.

Overall, Mary and Max is Up for adults. Being animated, some adults may even find this film too sad and depressing for their taste. But that is why this film is so brilliant, Elliot takes us to a whole new world here, and as long as you know what you are getting you will love this film. It is no doubt easy on the eyes, and it is perfectly written, with great work in the director's chair by Adam Elliot. Mary and Max may not be the best animated film I have ever seen, but it is easily one of the best. It is hands down an animation masterpiece, and the best one I have seen in a very long time.