The idea that there is someone looking up at the sky and seeing something different from what I see sparks my imagination. There is something about humans living on this planet experiencing totally different things to me that energizes my mind. Since I was small I had always been fascinated with people who had friends or family living in a different country. I did not know actually why I felt that way. Maybe hearing stories about individuals who lived in a foreign land allowed me to vicariously experience a part of the world I might never be able to visit during my lifetime. Now I try not to have regrets in my life; but if there was one thing I could have done differently when I was younger, I would have sought out a pen pal. To have 2 people sharing life’s experiences with each other is a gift in my opinion. I know there are some individuals who have an easier time talking to a stranger than to a family member. From my years of teaching and meeting so many different people I know this to be true.    LIVING in Australia with an alcoholic mother and feeling all alone Mary Daisy Dinkle, voiced by Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding, The Sixth Sense), decided to randomly pick a name out of a US phonebook.  She would then write a letter to this stranger named Max Jerry Horovitz, voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman (A Most Wanted Man, The Hunger Games franchise). Max had Asperger’s syndrome and lived in New York City. Mary’s letter would start a decades long relationship where no topic was off limits. This film festival winning comedic drama was a joy to watch on DVD. Doing the story with claymation characters was a brilliant idea; the emotions displayed had an easy sensitivity to them. The story was narrated by Barry Humphries aka Dame Edna (Immortal Beloved, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), who did a wonderful job no matter if he was saying a deadpan sarcastic remark or tackling a sad situation. I was swept up with the main characters’ plight; that is how real they came across in this animated film. By the way this movie is for a more mature audience; this is not a young children’s film. On a personal note there was a bonus I discovered from watching this picture. It dawned on me that I am essentially doing a modern version of communicating with pen pals from all the people I have met through my movie review site and the sites I have visited. I am basking in the joy of having seen an amazing film and realizing I now know people from all over the world. This movie was for a more mature audience.

3 1/3 stars — DVD