What a lovely movie. This heart-warming but ultimately heart-breaking story of an unlikely friendship between two characters, characters that aren't usually the focus of movies, is as cute as they come - who needs CGI when you can deliver something better in a claymation stop-motion style? Beware, however, because there is darkness lurking in some corners.
Mary (first voiced by Bethany Whitmore, then by Collette) is an 8-year-old girl living in a small town in Australia in the mid-'70s. Mary is a lonely girl with no friends - those who do speak to her only do so to tease her about her birthmark, that she admits, "is the colour of poo." Dipping into an American phonebook at the Post Office, Mary randomly picks out a name - Max Jerry Horovitz (Hoffman), an overweight middle-aged Asperger Syndrome sufferer living in a dingy New York apartment with only an imaginary friend to talk to. Despite the age difference, they find they have a lot in common, become pen pals and transform each other's lives.
It doesn't sound like much, but Mary And Max will break your heart if you're not careful. A sweet and cuddly outing on the surface, relying on innocence for most of the gags - "If a taxi goes backwards, does the driver owe you money?" - but underneath the sugary stuff is a bitter tale of loneliness, suicide and world that can swallow you whole. Mary's mother is a chain-smoking alcoholic and her father is a depressed factory owner and both ignore her. Where Mary has sometimes a cheery disposition (children are always hopeful that this isn't the be all and end all), Max (voiced perfectly by the raspy tones of Hoffman) has no such hope, doomed to live this life to the lonesome end. It's dotted with humour and niceties, and boasts a massive heart pounding through the centre, but there's no escaping that this is a bleak film. Yes, this is more for adults than kids.
With its grotesque (but funny) caricatures and cluttered, bent out of shape world, the animation is spot on. If the script wasn't witty - and it is, just one of the hundred cherries on this cake - there would still be the gorgeous visuals to get tucked into. The painstakingly detailed stop-motion claymation somehow looks fresher than anything a computer can create and boasts more warmth.
Mary and Max might lag slightly in the middle but debutant filmmaker Adam Elliot has enough in his back pocket to rally the movie again. Funny, sad and beautiful, this is one of the movies of the year.
