— by ROBERT DeFEIS —
Mary and Max is a stopmotion claymation feature film directed and written by Adam Elliot. The voice cast consists of Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Eric Bana. Oddly enough, this film states that it is based on a true story.
Mary and Max looks to tell the tale of a very unlikely pen-pal friendship between cute 8-year-old Mary, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, and Max, a 44-year-old, very obese Jewish man with Asperger syndrome who lives in New York. Shortly after becoming pen-pals, Max is so enthralled with Mary he already considers her his best and only friend. Mary’s parents aren’t too pleased with the new friendship.
The film premiered on the opening night of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. In June 2009, the film won the Annecy Cristal from the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. It was also awarded the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival.
It has some very mature themes for its PG rating, including neglect, suicide, depression and extreme anxiety. Even though Mary and Max has these themes, it still seems to be a very humorous and amusing movie. If you’re into claymation, this is definitely one to check out.
Click here for release dates for :Mary and Max was released on April 9, 2009 in Australia.
Follow It’s Just Movies on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ItsJustMovies.
The old guy’s voice is awesome.
Not a fan of the color scheme.