Movie Breakdown: Welcome To Marwen

Pre-Screening Stance:

Mark Hogancamp’s story is both tragic and amazing, and I get why Robert Zemeckis (with help from a great cast fronted by Steve Carell) would want to put it on the big screen.  However, I kind of feel like the Marwencol documentary back in 2010 already did the trick.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Welcome To Marwen is what I would describe as a nice movie.  It does an OK job of telling the tale of Mark Hogancamp, an artist who spends his days photographing a miniature WWII town that he created after suffering a near-death attack that wiped away all of his memories (and his ability to draw).  There’s also some solid performances from the likes of Steve Carell (Hogancamp) and the various women (Leslie Mann, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monae, Elza Gonzalez, Gwendoline Christie) that exist in his character’s actual life and fantasy world.  The problem is that this movie is just far too long.  It’s easily a story that could have been told in well under 90 minutes, but Robert Zemeckis extends it to nearly the two-hour mark.  This move in particular drags down the third act, which should be emotionally impactful, but there are too many scenes that feel similar to ones from earlier in the film and after spending so long being hammered with heavy-handed metaphors about the healing process, it’s just nearly impossible to not disconnect from the movie and start wondering what’s going on anywhere else.

Zemeckis has his heart in the right place with Welcome To Marwen, but it’s just not an engaging enough film to warrant a trip to the theater.  I advise that you catch this one from the comfort of your couch at some point down the road.

One Last Thought:

I think that a GI Joe movie done in the style of how the action figures/dolls look in Welcome To Marwen would be really fun.  Someone get on this now!