Unbearably sad and immensely funny - a human and claymation masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2011)

A few IMDb reviewers give this wonderful claymation film by Adam Elliott the thumbs down. They must be more severely disabled by Asperger's syndrome than Max, and completely incapable of normal human responses.
I don't want to seek words to describe how good 'Mary and Max' is. I don't want to think why others might object to some or all of it.
From start to finish, 'Mary and Max' is marvelous. Anyone who has a heart will love it, especially anyone who has a damaged heart and can't quite fit in with the regular world.
The most idiotic of the hostile reviewers are those who have a knee-jerk reaction to a pen-pal relationship between, at the start, an 8 year old Australian girl and a 40 year old American man.
Most of the words are narrated brilliantly by Barry Humphries. The claymation figures are grotesque but so skilfully manipulated that they evoke sympathy rather than revulsion from the viewer. The details are witty and charming, with many liable not to be noticed at a first viewing. Only Australians (fellow nationals of Adam Elliott) are likely to be familiar with the two most frequently recurring musical themes. Not many people beyond these shores will know 'The Waltz of the Wombat'.
In my IMDb reviews I normally give a plot outline, with the necessary spoiler warnings. My advice for 'Mary and Max' is to see it for yourself, without prejudice. If it leaves you unaffected, or hostile, I don't even want to start thinking about what you must be like in real life.
To repeat and expand, this is a wonderful, wonderful film. It hardly hits a false note, and I'm not going to highlight the few seconds that jarred with me. After watching it, I'm still in a daze. At the halfway point I thought: this standard can't be maintained; there's no way the loose ends can be satisfactorily tied. I was wrong.
I have to give up now. The immediate effects should have worn off, but I'm still overwhelmed.