Mary & Max - or Do Sheep Shrink When It Rains?

In 1984, Adam Elliot won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for "Harvie Krumpet". Even then, he proved that animation doesn't necessarily have to be made for kids. And with his feature film "Mary & Max - or Do Sheep Shrink When It Rains?", again a lovingly animated work with play-doh, Elliot stays true to his line. The story about an unusual friendship is dark, bitterly wicked, whimsical, sad and extremely funny.

The story is told of Mary, a little Australian girl who is desperate for a friend. At random, she picks a pen pal in New York, to whom she asks such important questions as whether babies in America come from Coke cans. The loner Max, who receives Mary's letter, responds to the little girl after some initial anxiety, and a very special pen-pal friendship begins through which both Mary and Max learn a lot about themselves. They realize that they are both outsiders who somehow feel lost in their world. But even though communication about whether sheep shrink when it rains, for example, binds the two unlikely friends together, there are always events in their lives that could bring the friendship to an abrupt end...

Originally narrated by Barry Humphries (better known as Dame Edna) and voiced by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette and Eric Bana, the humor of "Mary & Max" may not always translate equally well into German. Nevertheless, this unusual animated film is absolutely worth seeing even in the German version. The film is bursting with original and endearing ideas, so that a single viewing is hardly enough to even begin to comprehend the genius of this film. Adam Elliot has succeeded in making a film that, while filled with sadness from the very first second, and whose story itself is incredibly tragic, nevertheless has at least one good laugh to offer in almost every minute.

Elliot doesn't give a damn about political correctness, but neither does he frantically try to provoke. Rather, in a very unusual way, he manages to see the comic absurdity in life's sad moments. Whether it's anxiety, alcoholism, homosexuality, mental illness, and death, all of these inherently heavy themes are beautifully woven together into an enchanting story. It took five years to make the film, of which fifty people worked on the actual filming alone for one year. The result is an animated film far removed from the colorful magical world of Disney & Co, a story that finds something fairy-tale-like precisely in its gloomy reality.

Certainly, "Mary & Max" is not a film for the masses, the work is simply too bleak for that, too far removed from the common viewing habits of the wider audience. But no one should be put off by that: "Mary & Max" is a film that deserves every single viewer and should definitely be seen by all who appreciate unusual, weird and relentless cinema. Therefore, must-see at the box office - "Mary & Max" should not be missed!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp