Claymation fantasy, long distance pen pals.

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2019)

I don't recall why I looked up this particular movie, it is now 10 years old, but I found the DVD at my public library. My wife and I watched it at home.
It is a fantasy story told with claymation. It is 1976 and a little girl in Australia named Mary is depressed and has no friends. One day she is in a library and decides to look into a phone book from the USA, as her mother pulls her away she accidentally tears off a section of one page. Later she notices one name in particular and in her 8-yr-old way writes him a letter.
The man who gets the letter is 40-something Max, he too has no friends. He is obese, loves chocolate bar hot dogs, and sometimes little things upset him greatly. Eventually it becomes clear he has Aspergers and seldom knows how to interact with others. But he gets to his old typewriter and writes back to little Mary.
Toni Collette voices the growing up Mary Daisy Dinkle and now deceased Philip Seymour Hoffman voices Max Jerry Horovitz. Both are very good, particularly so Hoffman. The story continues for at least 15 to 20 years for Mary to grow up, go to college, write a thesis on Max's affliction, and publish a book.
The movie is not all fun, in fact it has some dark aspects to it, but in the end is a statement on relationships and how two strangers can often reach out to each other and something good can come of it.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.