On a technical level, Zemeckis has crafted another highly imaginative world — this one being an outward expression of inner turmoil and trauma — but it is in no way close to even touching the heels of his work on Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump or Death Becomes Her. When it comes to Welcome to Marwen, it all kinda falls apart with the story, which is inspired on bizarre true events that are surely more compelling in documentary form, Marwencol; the supporting characters don’t have too big of a role, and there aren’t any real twists or revelations that aren’t already painfully obvious to the audience.

Mark’s obsession with the essence of women serves as a nice symbol for the powerful healing quality and soft kindness of feminine energy, but more often than not, he comes off as very creepy on multiple occasions, which was most likely not brought on entirely by the savage beating he unjustly received. While there’s a fair amount of empathy laid on his character, it rings a bit contrived and doesn’t feel earned. The two-hour narrative hike builds to a fizzle that doesn’t have even the tinniest notion of impact or power; the courtroom speech falls flat, as does the animated climax (which includes a silky Back to the Future reference), and we never get any info on the sentencing given to the Neo-Nazi scum (it’s more about facing demons rather than receiving due justice, which just isn’t at all that gratifying).