Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Welcome to Marwen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 2, 2019

Legendary Director Robert Zemeckis (the Back to the Future trilogy) has always seemed drawn to wonder and driven by imagination. Few filmmakers seem to take the term "movie magic" to heart quite like he does, which for Zemeckis means spearheading the next great breakthrough in visual effects, in creating that movie magic not simply through storytelling but also through digital manipulation. Whether the real world meets the animated world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, the green screen greatness of Forrest Gump, or building entire movies via motion capture, Zemeckis' embrace of technology has resulted in some of the most fundamentally magical movie watching experiences of the past few decades. In Welcome to Marwen, Zemeckis anthropomorphizes highly detailed dolls that serve as one physically and emotionally battered man's coping mechanisms. The film's visuals are another example of Zemeckis' willingness to push new technologies, but unlike his other visual spectaculars this one lacks a feel for truly building on the foundational heart and purpose inherent to the material, even if it should be one of the most heartfelt and purposeful of all his films.

Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) is a gifted artist who is one night, while intoxicated, beaten senseless outside a bar by five individuals who don't like his affection for high-heel shoes. The beating leaves him nearly dead. He physically recovers, most of the way. Scars are left behind but much of his memory is gone and he has lost his artistic talents. He lives his life as well as he can. He's made some new friends, has people who care for him in his life, but it's not enough. His long-term response to, and therapy for, the crime comes through complex creations of miniatures and the highly detailed dolls who are stand-ins for himself and the people in his life. In the fictional Belgian town of "Marwen," Mark poses and photographs his creations to tell the story of his life through the lens of a Pentax camera and a World War II setting. Mark is represented by the story's hero, Captain Hogie. There are several heavily armed women who represent various people in his life, such as his caregiver or his rehabilitation specialist. Then there are the five Nazis, each of whom look like the men who attacked him.

One day, Mark learns that a new neighbor is moving in across the street. He's instantly smitten with the redhead he comes to know as "Nicol" (no "e" at the end, played by Leslie Mann). She accepts him for who he is, doesn't bat an eyelash at his high-heel shoe collection, and wants to know more about his story, both his real-life story and his ever-evolving make-believe tale in Marwen. While Mark falls for Nicol, a sentencing court date looms that fills him with dread: he'll have to appear in the same room as the men who nearly took his life and changed what remains of it forever. Meanwhile, the mysterious witch of Marwen, Deja Thoris (Diane Kruger), threatens to destroy everything he's built in the real world and in the would-be peaceful town, the “garden spot of Belgium" that has everything Mark could ever need and just might hold the key to his emotional recovery.

It's interesting that in Welcome to Marwen a man fuels his recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder by going to war, fictionally. By building a small, isolated, but detailed series of scenes, his avatar, for lack of a better term, basically lives the life he wants to live: he's surrounded by beautiful women in a small town that meets all of his needs, but it's invaded (or maybe better said bullied) by a handful of Nazis who wish to do him harm because he's different. The entire plot seems to stem from one of his attackers, supposedly the ringleader, bearing a swastika tattoo on his arm. In the fictional Marwen, Mark is a hero who is a crack shot with a six-shooter, who is unafraid of running to danger, and who is always on the ready with a sharp verbal retort and response to any situation. And his world is not static. When Nicol moves in next door, he buys a redheaded doll (from a kindly hobby shop employee played by Merritt Wever, who is attracted to Mark), names her Nicol, and makes her the new centerpiece of his growing narrative, including pegging her as Hogie's new love interest. The film cuts to the real world with frequency and follows Marks' fumbling attempts to better know Nicol, to whom he is obviously attracted, and why not: she's beautiful, friendly, warm, and has no hang-ups concerning his unusual fetishes or behaviors. The question, then, is whether Mark will get the girl in the real world, just as Hogie gets her in Marwen.

The film is not without a heartfelt center and purposeful narrative, but both are fumbled in an occasionally jumbled presentation that is not difficult to follow or feel but that does seem somewhat incomplete, sharing Mark's new life and fears and coping mechanisms but not often really getting deeply and intimately inside the man himself. The film plays more superficially than it should. Zemeckis cannot balance the externalities, which are wondrously realized in the anthropomorphized world of Marwen, with the flesh-and-blood soul that should be the movie's dominant and defining component. Carell works hard to find that character center but his performance often feels overwhelmed by the script's inability to get to the character's heart and center, which Zemeckis has done before, with great success, in the aforementioned movies like Forrest Gump and The Polar Express and also in pictures like Flight and Cast Away. Leslie Mann's work is strong as the romantic interest who may be interested in more or may simply be content to stay in the "friend zone," but the character feels underdeveloped, a stand-in to propel the plot rather than rewrite it as a fully realized character. The film would have benefited by exploring Mark's relationship with Roberta (Merritt Wever's character) with more depth and focus; their scenes together are often the best of those that take place in the real world.

Welcome to Marwen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Welcome to Marwen's digitally photographed source reveals a quality Blu-ray viewing experience. The live action scenes reveal stable, complex textures that showcase the intricacies of the various models and dolls and support elements Mark (or the film's production team, as the case may be) has painstakingly crafted with all of the necessary details to bring the world as it's seen to striking, detailed life. His home interior, filled with random odds and ends, including a number of handwritten notes to himself, present with impeccably clear and precise stability. Character faces and clothing details are as crisp and complex as the format allows. Colors, here, are likewise pleasing, with special note of the more cheerful shades Nicol brings to the film, whether through her colorful attire or the walls in her home, which appears in contrast to the more dreary, less visually dynamic environment that is Mark's home. The digital Marwen scenes are excellent, with the plastic characters showing the proper level of clarity and their worlds and clothes precisely defined, whether war-torn exteriors in Marwen or Hogie's leather jacket. Black levels and skin tones appear perfectly dialed in. Noise is minimal and no significant source or encode flaws are apparent.

Welcome to Marwen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

It's a bit unusual to see a new release Universal disc with the Dolby TrueHD encode, but here it is. Welcome to Marwen's 5.1 lossless soundtrack is quite robust, particularly during the Marwen action scenes. The track produces solid bass and explosive stage envelopment during the opening flak attack (though dialogue is a little lacking in perfect prioritization and clarity here, understandable given the chaos defining the scene). A barrage of gunfire in a scene that mixes the real and imagined worlds in chapter five features shots tearing through the stage with highly impressive vigor and zip via full stage coverage. Weapons fire in Marwen proper is impressive, particularly when the girls fire an unnecessary number of rounds at German soldiers, who are pelted with gunfire in what becomes silly over-the-top excess and understandably therapeutic for Mark. The track is in full command of various light atmospherics in both worlds. Music flows freely about the front with excellent detail and modest surround support. Dialogue is clear and center-focused for the duration.

Welcome to Marwen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Welcome to Marwen contains deleted scenes and several featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 11:22 total runtime): Included are Hogie Fights the Nazis, Benz Reassembles, Tea Pots, Little Hogie Startles Mark, Mark Startles Deja, Flying Jeep, Demaryius Finds Mark Walking, and Mark Runs Into Kurt Again.
• Marwen's Citizens (1080p, 3:51): A quick look at several key characters and the qualities the actors brought to their roles.
• A Visionary Director (1080p, 4:53): Talking up the qualities the director brings to this film.
• Building Marwen (1080p, 4:03): An all-too-quick peek into the process of constructing and working with the deliberately imperfectly constructed Marwen set pieces.
• Living Dolls (1080p, 4:02): Using motion capture to lay the foundation for the digitally constructed dolls.

Welcome to Marwen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Welcome to Marwen is a good movie that falls short of greatness. The picture's story is compelling and its lead character fascinating, but Zemeckis expends most of his energy on the Marwen scenes and less on the flesh-and-blood points of character and dramatic interest. The film is based on the Documentary Marwencol, which is not required viewing for this movie but it is the better telling of it, even if this is the superior "movie" in terms of technical construction. Universal's Blu-ray is technically sound and a few extras are included. Recommended.