Wasted creativity on a weak plot line

Rating: 6/10 (13 February 2010)

You can't fault the artistry behind Mary & Max. Done in a claymation manner similar to Wallace and Gromit, but less impressively than Coraline, the film walks that comedic line, giving its characters off- beat personality traits that aren't too wacky to be believable, but are strange enough to make us laugh. It's cute, like a children's book.
Unfortunately, there's a dark undercurrent in the film, and without giving away the plot line, I found that the entire 2nd half of the film and its ending departed from this theme. Instead of lovable failings that we can all laugh at and identify with, the two protagonists end up making mistakes that are genuine and contain genuine pain.
Comedies can have a kind of cartoony pain where you know everything's going to turn out all right. They should not have genuine pain. If the film's early promise (from its first half) had been dramatic, rather than comedic, the 2nd half might have made some sense. But why build us up for a feel-good story and then leave us feeling bad?
By the end of the film, there's no sense that the pain will end.
Although I didn't like it, I appreciated the film's originality and its artistry. So I'll give Mary and Max a humble 6 out of 10, the highest score I'll give a film that I wish I had not chosen to watch.