30 Animated Movies That Are Not for Children

Following the success and exposure of Harvie Krumpet, Adam Elliot helmed what most consider to be his most important work of all: monochromatic, claymation tragicomedy Mary and Max.

Featuring the vocal talents of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, and Eric Bana, amongst others, the film tells of Mary, a young Aussie wallflower, and her obese, autistic, middle-aged pen-pal Max. The unlikely friendship takes us through the years, as Mary grows and comes out of her shell, while Max struggles to interact with the world around him, becoming increasingly lost and alone.

Elliot actually coined the term clayography to describe the bulk of his films, for the way in which he combines claymation animation and biographical details from the lives of his family and friends. And Mary and Max is no different, arising from the director’s own relationship with his NYC-based pen-pal, with whom he has been corresponding for several decades.

What Mary and Max manages to do through its idiosyncratic approach to the physical aspects of stop-motion, as well as character and narrative, is illuminate the day-to-day struggles of those with Asperger’s, while telling a story larger than itself about the fragility of human bonds and the trials of consistency over time.