Mary and Max (2009)

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Adam Elliot
Written By: Adam Elliot
Starring: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries, Bethany Whitmore, Renée Geyer
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Animation
Country: Australia
Where to Stream
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Mary and Max belongs to 58 collections
1. IMDB Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 122 stars)
2. Mindfuck (collaborative: moderated by Mockus - 86 stars)
3. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)
4. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
5. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)
6. Best film of top directors (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 15 stars)
7. Stop Motion (collaborative - 14 stars)
8. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
9. Best of criticker: Animation (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 10 stars)
10. Autism (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 8 stars)
11. Animated films - Not from Japan or USA. (collaborative: moderated by gcat - 8 stars)
12. IMDb Top 250 (250 most recurrent) (public: sianaa - 8 stars)
13. Best of criticker: Comedy (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 7 stars)
14. Ekşi Sinema "Alternatif" Top 250 (collaborative - 6 stars)
15. IMDb Top of The 2000's (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 5 stars)
16. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
17. Claymation (collaborative - 4 stars)
18. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)
19. weirdos (collaborative: moderated by monclivie - 2 stars)
20. Character name in title (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 2 stars)
21. Australian director (collaborative: moderated by djross - 2 stars)
22. MovieMeter.nl Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 2 stars)
23. onderhond.com top 200 movies (collaborative: moderated by Bullt - 2 stars)
24. Netflix Watch Instantly (public: dgeiser13 - 2 stars)
25. mwgerb's Netflix Instant Queue (public: mwgerb - 2 stars)
26. Top 2000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 2 stars)
27. Eligible for Academy Award Best Picture 2009 (collaborative: moderated by Ross - 1 star)
28. film puanlamalarım (collaborative - 1 star)
29. Top AlloCiné (public: sianaa - 1 star)
30. IMDb Top 250 (2 years) (public: sianaa - 1 star)
31. The Greatest Movies of All Time - Filmweb's Alternative Top 500 (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)
32. Melbourne (collaborative: moderated by djross)
33. Best of criticker: 2009 (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr)
34. watching 2015 (collaborative: moderated by max805)
35. 100 Best Australian Films Of The New Millennium by FilmInk (collaborative: moderated by Equanimity)
36. Australian Films #YOUMUSTSEE Top 100 Films (collaborative: moderated by Equanimity)
37. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
38. SirStuckey's Blu-Ray Collection (public: SirStuckey)
39. 2C (public: twisp)
40. IcanRemOs (public: cajerio)
41. To Watch (public: normalchaos)
42. Home (public: moretso)
43. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 13 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
44. Asia/Pacific Top 100 (public: Sleepy Dogs)
45. Films I watched in 2010 (public: jal90)
46. Hitlist (public: bktan)
47. Netflix to watch (public: lexwhitfield)
48. YTS Good Films (public: normalman)
49. K&A (public: caffe)
50. Animasyon Mucizeleri (public: Ozancan)
51. 2009, Best of (public: Matthew Parkinson)
52. KENDELL'S MASSIVE LIST (public: kendell)
53. Forrest Watch List (public: ForrestQ)
54. seen (public: gamzeknc)
55. C-Animation (public: cantahta)
56. Unofficially Beating The World Record For Most Films Watched in a Year (public: EsperHart)
57. Watchlist (public: ashot)
58. nextup (public: valkyrian)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
8 | ![]() |
roofs_runner | 94 93rd |
Very kind in its dark way. Mary and Max is like a gulp of fresh air in the cartoons world: it's interesting, depressing, funny and deep. I would never not call it childish or smth. This is very subjective but such a real attempt to portray life with all its difficulties.
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chemical404 | 71 85th |
Adam Elliot makes cute films. But Mary and Max isn't your typical cute film with fluffy clouds and shinny smiles. It finds beauty of humans in their imperfections, physical or mental. It also finds beauty in death - so unusual for animated films. Due to the narrative structure of this film, it gets a bit dull. Elliot's stories works best when they are kept short.
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NathanDarko | 96 95th |
Mary and Max. They are uncommon, sad, have no friends and life don't benefits them at all. Their life is a story of tragedy and sadness. Mary lives in Australia and Max in New York. A happy coincidence leaded their ways together. Elliot tells a story about unique friendship between two outsiders from two different sources. His style is pretty awesome, a mix in between nightmare before christmas meets wallace and grommit. One of the best Films I've seen lately.
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Beer94 | 81 92nd |
Sublime. Balance between light and shade in the story is almost perfect, wonderful animation, script and soundtrack, and for such a simple yet poignant story, it evokes a variety of different emotions and themes, so much so, as Max so eloquently put it, it feels like they're in a tumble dryer. Truly touching and I would definitely recommend it.
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Okkervil | 92 98th |
'Astonishing' doesn't do it justice. Beautifully animated, wonderfully written and voiced, with many moments of outstanding wit, humour, and creativity. Most brilliantly of all is this movies perfect pacing and tone. It gets darker and darker right up until the wonderful closing scenes. One of my favourite animated movies ever.
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SheWas | 87 92nd |
I cried. almost twice. I recognized in the film things that are hard to admit you recognize. It's courageously funny, and unbearably sad. When it ended, I started it agian. I wanted a few more minutes with it. It's always hard to recognize, I guess. - 2011
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JooJoo | 4 55th |
Suffering, suffering, suffering, joke, suffering, suffering - [deep moment] [wide-eyed stare] - suffering, suffering, joke, suffering. Rinse, repeat.
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muutanet | 91 97th |
Beautifully "one-colored" claymation: Australia was brown and New York grey, except some reds here and there. Just marv choice of colors. Almost emotionless voice-overs were nicely humoured. Not for children, since the main themes were depression, loneliness, alcoholism, death and different kinds of anxieties.
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Bitch Alert | 80 78th |
Mary and Max is animated using stop-motion technology, and the result looks great. The variety of details, big and small, captures the eye, and one looks carefully at every scene. The characters are stylized in the same way as Wallace & Gromit, and the colour palette works beautifully. While down under it's all yellow and brown, the big apple is mainly gray with just a hint of vomit.
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omgfridge | 8 80th |
Beautiful to look at and grabs your interest with the fantastic writing. Gets scarily dark towards the latter point of the film and even more creepy as its based on a true story.
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filmfreak88 | 75 66th |
The first half of the film is packed with humor, depth and emotional resonance that it's easy to ignore that the second half loses some of its impact. Still, a very touching little animated film that handles weightier themes like mental illness and rejection really well and tackles true friendship without the cloying sentimentality that plagues most inspirational films.
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Bunken | 80 88th |
For 90 minutes I just sat there with a great big smile on my face! What a story, and what an imagination Mr. Elliot has! Loved it!
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Miss Marple | 95 95th |
A brilliant piece of work! It will make you laugh and cry! Well done!!! I loved some details..all the story is full of ironic humour and sensibility! This is a film that I will watch again and again and it will be there with the best animated films of all time. SEE IT !!!
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Moribunny | 73 79th |
A sophisticated, very morbid, even cruel satire populated by social rejects and otherwise miserable existences, but despite its absurd cynicism eerily sympathetic and touching. One of the better animation features to emerge from the English-speaking world in years.
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Kojiless | 93 96th |
If you were unable to find this movie charming or moving in any way, I know of a junkyard that has several 50s refrigerators in which you can sit and contemplate why you were born without a soul.
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frederic_g54 | 9 90th |
It suggests an awkward hopelessness yet it's also a strangely endearing film. It falls short a few times and only the first half is reminiscent of "Harvie Krumpet", but as a whole, it will wrap you up with its humor, heart and depth.
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Luna6ix | 85 89th |
a bleak dark comedy, pocked with sadness and depression--and all done in claymation. this movie is a triumph, it is touching, charming, funny, and sad all at the same time.
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Ocelot | 85 94th |
Great movie. Mixes serious issues with whimsicality in a way I'd never seen before. Excellent animation, too.
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ABUNCHOFCATS | 85 68th |
Very charming movie with a wicked sense of humour. The style is pretty well done if nothing completely original, but it works well. The characters are relatively sympathetic and you really can't help but laugh at their problems, and then feel bad when their problems get even worse.
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Guillaume | 81 89th |
Based on real story, notoriously dark at times, while still keeping the innocence of Amélie Poulain, mixed with the atmosphere of Nightmare Before Christmas (but with even better worked out graphics).
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Vdecraim | 85 87th |
Perfectly consistent in its tone and message, you won't even know whether you should weep or laugh. Perhaps there isn't that much difference between those two as you would think ...
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anilscn | 75 88th |
tartışmasız gelmiş geçmiş en iyi animasyon olabilecek potansiyel yine "aman çocukların sevebilecekleri şeyleri de ekleyelim, aman bi kaç romantik tesadüf olsun" aptallığı yüzünden hiç olmuş. sinirliyim, evet çok tatlı, çok samimi ve animasyonlar muhteşem başarılı ama yazık değil mi ya. bi karar verin abi çocuklara mı yapıyoruz bu animasyonları büyüklere mi (miyazaki aptallıklarına bin basar orası ayrı konu). 3 tane hayvani tesadüf olan bir filme nasıl 80 ve üstü verelim söyleyin bi.
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schnofel | 40 25th |
Something so populist in its oddness should be relegated to the back pages of a newspaper. One annoying skit after the other.
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cowfrappe | 90 99th |
A gorgeous, original, hilarious, and emotional story with wonderful animation and truly heartfelt performances and characters.
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caiman | 91 94th |
I'll get the one tiny complaint out of the way first: yes, the movie needed more dialog and less narration. Now that that's out of the way, this is a beautiful movie. In every sense of the word: Gorgeous animation that perfectly compliments the tone of the story; a clever, witty sense of humor; characters I deeply cared about; and a perfectly-paced, deeply moving story that, while simple, really struck an emotional chord with me. This just became one of my favorite animated films of all time.
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Spunkie | 75 90th |
M&M follows Harvie Krumpet's routine very closely. 1. People with weird deficiencies finding a way to enjoy life no matter what (after spending a bumpy road). 2. Life is chaotic and acts in extreme coincidences. Since I remember Harvie well, Mary and Max seemt a bit formulaic at first. But the fact I remember Harvie after 5 years means it managed to move me deeply, so does Mary and Max.
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sebby | 75 83rd |
Dark and beautiful stop-motion film. Emotionally potent.
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1 | st_fly | 45 46th |
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Good. Its a very touching, sensitive movie, definitely not for kids since some of the themes it deals with include suicide and substance abuse. Its way too bleak for my taste, I mean its a really sad film and it being an animation, left me very depressed. Definitely not a date movie.
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KasperL | 80 86th |
'Harvey Krumpet' light. Even if it's not as incredible and energetic as said short, this is a fully successful stab at telling a dark story in a light-hearted way. I find Elliot's style refreshingly peculiar, and his humour is constantly amusing, if never all-out hilarious. It can all get slightly too repetitive but overall it's a pleasant and worthwhile watch.
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mohan | 98 88th |
Not an easy film to watch. But memorable heart warming drama. The quirkiness of the personalities is beautifully portrayed that it becomes a disturbing experience at times - especially if you can identify with any of the traits. Left me with a great feeling of calm and love after watching it. One of the handful of films where you forget that you are not watching live characters - makes you connect with the characters and feel with/for them. Beautiful achievement. Highly recommend it.
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Obdurate | 85 80th |
This was a really funny movie. I wasn't expecting it to be so hilarious. It toned down the hilarity as it went on, but still threw in some good gags here and there. But then, somehow, I became really sympathetic towards them and the ending made me really sad.
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vespera23 | 83 77th |
I've never rated a movie so high that I didn't actually enjoy watching. Most films are happy bits interrupted by moments of sadness. This film inverts that modus operandi. Characters are distinctly human, and lovable in their flawed existence. Left me with a tear and the right half of a smile. NOT a film for those seeking a lighthearted animated comedy. By no means cheerful, it excels in its melancholy beauty.
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tathiel | 88 92nd |
Interesting and uncommon visual style and sense of humour. The film deals with several dark themes including neglect, suicide, depression and anxiety. I instantly liked the movie and its characters.
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Lebar | 88 94th |
love it every second of it
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racer_x124 | 94 99th |
Beautiful, funny, and endlessly sad.
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Zozan | 25 23rd |
A movie with an extraordinary style definitely. Easy to see why people appreciate it yet I found the voice over to be a bit too much and movie to be a bit boring on overall. Just not my type, that is all...
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astrakhan | 82 85th |
Similar to 2009's 'Coraline', this animation film is beautiful to look at, impeccably designed, and full of exquisite detail and creativity. The well-written characters and cute narration are enough to drawn us in initially, but along the way the story breaks down. I would say the timeline is messed up, with too many changes of pace. Somewhere in the sombre middle, I lost my sympathy for the loser characters and it became boring. Very good but falls short of the standard set by 'Harvie Krumpet'.
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JordanDcFc | 89 91st |
A completely affecting and brilliant animation. In equal parts funny and heartbreaking. It's beautiful to watch and the script was amazing. The juxtaposition between the overall themes of the movie and the way they are handled is outstanding. Great voice work too.
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Bown | 86 80th |
Very sweet, poignant stuff, that also manages to make fun of the darkest things. Looks absolutely gorgeous, especially in HD, and the voices are great.
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mwgerb | 70 86th |
This felt less effective when trying to be purely comedic or purely depressing. But many other moments capture something in between - a truly beautiful bittersweetness. Although it's not consistent enough to be a masterpiece in my mind, it's often overwhelmingly touching, and manages to be a feel-good film despite focusing on dark topics that other animated movies wouldn't dare discuss.
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DavidBlast | 65 59th |
I don't know why I didn't connect with this, just as I have no idea why I don't connect with 'Amelié', a movie with which this feature shares it obsession with quirky rituals. It does become a little repetitious, and I found the 'conflict' to be too melodramatic, but it is a film that I would recommend that everyone sees, even though it was not really for me.
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GordonBombay | 95 98th |
One of the best animated movies I have ever seen. Sweet, funny and dealing with a serious topic in a way both adults and children can enyoy. Totally overlooked by the Academy. For Shame!!!
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1 | fredfunk04 | 94 98th |
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Probably the best export ever from Australia. Yes, that includes Rolf Harris and Kylie!!
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Wezzo | 97 98th |
A thoughtful, touching portrait of connection between two lost souls. The dialogue is impossibly well-observed and the animation suits the material wonderfully. An utter gem.
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burmashave | 92 91st |
manly tears
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eCitizen | 30 18th |
The story hasn't much to offer. Basically two desperately lonely people become pen pals and their friendship become one of the most important things in their lives, but they never get the chance to meet. The animation was a weird combination of cute and strange. It was moderately entertaining, but ultimately rather boring and forgettable.
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dardan | 60 58th |
Obeast 4chan betalord-cuckfagwizard makes contact with female being, dies.
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1 | toddsalter | 90 70th |
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We don't all have to be perfect!!! What a great message. I would have rated it higher but the content and characters themselves didn't inspire me much, which made it a little boring. But the message is amazing and will stick with me for a while.
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Average Percentile 70.83% from 3628 Ratings | ![]() |