I cannot believe that I missed out on this one for so long. Mary and Max is a 2009 Australian stop motion movie brought to us by Adam Elliot who wrote and directed it. I am going to tell you right now that this is one of the best stop motion movies I have ever seen! You may think that as it is stop motion it is a “kids” movie, but it is 100 percent not a movie for children.
How to Download Mary and Max
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like stop-motion comedies, check out also Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride.
The Movie Review
Talking about a movie like Mary and Max is tough as it is the kind of thing you have to experience for yourself to truly appreciate how special it is. The movie starts in the mid-70s with eight-year-old Mary living in Australia. Mary does not have a great life, actually, that is a huge understatement.
She has a strange-shaped birthmark on her face for which she is bullied at school. Things at home for Mary are not good either, her father is distant and her mother is an alcoholic mess! It is pretty damn heartbreaking to watch, to be honest with you, but Mary does get a ray of sunshine!
You see, Mary comes across a phonebook for New York and she picks a name at random to write to and that name was, Max Jerry Horowitz. Max is a middle-aged man living on his own in New York he has Asperger’s syndrome and has a very hard time communicating and connecting with people.
He has a bit of a freak out at first when he gets a letter from Mary, but he eventually responds to her. This leads to Max and Mary having a very special friendship that lasts for a very long time. The way that they bond over chocolate and this strange TV show called, The Noblets is a lot of fun and very heartwarming.
However, as heartwarming as the story of Mary and Max is, this story is also pretty brutal too. The hardships that these two face in their daily lives is just so hard to watch and I found myself getting a bit choked up on more than one occasion. You really do like these two characters and you want them both to be happy.
It is like they both take two steps forward, but then have to take ten back! Even when the story comes to a close, it is with tragic happiness, not just an all-smiles and happy-go-lucky kind of ending. It can make this a rather hard watch if I am being honest, but it is something that I highly recommend that you do give a chance.
The stop motion in Mary and Max is truly amazing stuff and the black and white nature of things gives the movie a very unique kind of look to it. As well as looking great, this movie is brought to life with an amazing voice cast featuring the likes of Phillip Seymore-Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana, and Bethany Whitmore to name a few.
I was pretty blown away by what I experienced with Mary and Max. The term “masterpiece” gets thrown away way too casually these days, but that honestly is the best way to describe this movie! It is such a shame that this movie did not get the widespread acclaim that it deserved. Those who have seen this love it, but sadly not enough people have taken the time to watch it.
