Disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (25 June 2011)

Mary & Max sets out to be a thought-provoking film that inspires with its originality, but it is ultimately an unsatisfying production. The opening scenes establish the film's nonlinearity and its willingness to be blunt and grim with its protagonists' struggles--once you notice these features, you grasp the film's entire hook. The movie constantly maintains this tone but never leads it to a payoff or a twist; I appreciate the filmmakers' decision to make something so unconventional, but the fact remains that these few original elements cannot support an entire 90-minute movie. The creative animation is definitely the best part.
The film is in large part a dark comedy, but all the comedic elements are tepidly clever at best but never truly funny. The quirky concepts have potential, but they are intended to be funny in & of themselves, never building to any new surprising result. Max's descriptions of his jobs, for instance, aren't poignant or charming, they're just "zany" with some angst thrown in. The film relies obnoxiously on scatological humor--even though this is usually deadpan, the sheer number of butt jokes gets old very fast.
Through the events in Mary's life, the movie sets up what could have been a moving message about accepting your own flaws, but the impact is spoiled when they hit you over the head with the message, via narration by both Damien and Max. Towards the end, Max's lengthy letter about being happy with yourself is so heavy-handed that it eliminates any possibility of thought-provoking subtlety. The very end of the film was also cheesily melodramatic and unsubtle. I didn't feel moved by the characters' suffering along the way, either, because we meet Mary as a lonely, bullied kid... and then the movie describes over and over how she's lonely & bullied, which has no impact on us because we understood that from early on. The same goes for Max being lonely and awkward.
There is obviously great effort behind the animation, with impressive, detailed sets, and the art style is engaging. The "Que Sera Sera" sequence in which Mary reaches the depths of depression is artistic and very nicely-done, but the film's successes in terms of visual presentation do not compensate for its story or hamfisted theme, which fall flat in the end. If you just want something out of the ordinary, you can enjoy Mary & Max, but if you expect true depth (not phony depth where the filmmakers comment "oh, loneliness sure is sad!") or richness of writing, you will come away disappointed.