YMMV / Mary and Max

---

• Alternative Character Interpretation
  • Max was more upset about: Mary trying to cure his Asperger's syndrome or just the fact that she used him as a guinea pig without asking.
  • Was Mary really Max's only friend? Considering Ivy let him have dinner with her every Sunday, she felt sorry for Max when he was being carried out of the building, and she looked after his pets and apartment while he was at the mental hospital, one could argue she'd count as well (unless he considered her more like his caregiver or parental figure). It's possible that, while he did have other people in his life who considered him a friend, Mary was the only person he felt a personal, intimate connection with.
• Award Snub: This movie received no nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards (see Screwed by the Network). It did however win the Cristal du long metrage at the Annecy Film Festival, alongside Coraline, in 2009.
• Awesome Music: The film's excellent use of "Perpetuum Mobile" by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra as its leitmotif.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Barry Humphries narrates the film, and his most famous character, Dame Edna Everage, cameos on postage stamps used by Mary. Edna has since claimed to have Asperger's on at least two occasions, and Humphries eventually revealed in 2017 that he himself has the condition.
  • Red is the sole colour in this otherwise Deliberately Monochrome film. Said colour would later become a popular symbol of the autistic community, directly contrasting the blue used by Autism Speaks, an organization widely considered to be ableist by autistic people.
• Moment of Awesome: Max gives Mary a rather silly bit of advice on how to stop another kid from bullying her. It works.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Mary. She's not exactly what you'd call "traditionally" attractive, but thanks to the animation style and her tender personality, she comes off as downright adorable.
  • Mary's baby.
• Unnecessary Makeover: Mary's look after she surgically removes her birthmark to woo Damien. She looks like a 40-year old housewife^note at this point, she's around 20. It may also be seen this way in-universe, as Mary goes back to normal for the rest of the film after being heartbroken once more.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Even though the movie's animation style is very cartoony and cute, and one of the protagonists is a child, it deals with a fair amount of mature themes such as prostitution, suicide, and alcoholism, and also has brief nudity and references to sex. Despite this, almost every province in Canada gave the film a G rating (Alberta rated it 14A), and in Australia it received a PG rating. By comparison, Singapore, who actually likely watched the film, gave it a PG-16.
• The Woobie:
  • Mary. She is bullied as a kid, her husband leaves her, she unintentionally angers Max with her book about Aspergers Syndrome and is nearly Driven to Suicide because of it.
  • Max. He has Asperger's Syndrome, is put in an institution and has no friends aside from Mary.

---