http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978762/

This has got to be one of the most beautiful yet depressing films I have seen in ages. I can't remember who it was exactly who told me about it here, but whoever it was I think you. This is a remarkable film. The story is wonderful yet sad at the same time. Max is an overweight man who doesn't understand humans, and Mary is a girl with no friends. The letters they send each other start out nice and funny, but soon become more and more bleak as their lives spiral downward in various charming ways. All done in glorious claymation of course. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was amazing, if you didn't know beforehand you would never guess that was his voice. Toni Collette, Eric Bana, and Barry Humphries are all great too. This film is very dark, almost to the point of it being hard to watch. Nothing in this film looks nice, everything is bleak and dark and depressing. Some parts are brighter than others but even those have a hint of darkness to them. This film really stayed consistant to it's story and themes. It felt emotional and poignant the whole time unlike Up for example, which was a good film but it's emotional parts at the start almost felt lost by the time the dogs started flying airplanes. While Mary and Max is very downbeat,

it has mamy moments that are some of the most touching I have ever seen in an animated film. This may look like a kid's film but it is very adult in many ways. It is fascinating to watch the characters in this film grow and mature. They actually feel like real people. All their emotions, all their success and failure is shown perfectly in claymation form. It is very hard to do adult animation well. For me some animation films that are more adult or try to be more mature usually have a point where they get a bit silly. This can work a lot of the time, like Up got silly near the end but it still worked pretty well. This film has an odd look to it. There are colorful parts, but much of the world is black and white with the occasional gray. This makes the emotional scenes in it much more bleak than if they were in a brighter enviroment. You get to watch both Mary, and Max go through their lives and send letters about themselves and what they are going through. In these letters they develop a connection. Both of them have never had friends before, so the letters they send are essential to them because they get a connection they have never felt before. I wouldn't say it is love, but it is important and touching whatever you call it. Their relationship is one of the most touching and beautiful I have seen in ages. They are both flawed in many ways, but their flaws bring them together. I highly recommned this film and I hope it wins best animated picture.

Overall I give it a 10 out of 10.