Welcome to Marwen Review — Robert Zemeckis’ latest looks like it was intended to be a Forrest Gump for this generation, but it’s no box of chocolates.

Before you read this Welcome to Marwen review, stop everything and take a look at the trailer. I’ve conveniently provided it for you here:

Doesn’t it look just a little bit confusing, a little bit cluttered, a little bit, dare I say it? Creepy? Welcome to Marwen is all those things…and less.

Like Forrest Gump, it’s the story of a simple and unusual man striving to find his own way in a judgmental world. Unlike Forrest Gump, the protagonist, played by Steve Carell, uses high heels, porn, Nazis and Barbie-like dolls in bustiers, among other unique devices, to work through his issues. Even if it’s based on real life occurrences, that’s a little too far out there to endear most of us to the story.

It’s based on the life of photographer Mark Hogancamp, who was a successful artist until he was beaten within an inch of his life by a group of thuggish young men, simply because he had a penchant for wearing high heels.

The beating left him physically and mentally damaged, and he inventively creates a world of dolls that represent the people in his life, most of them sexy versions of the females. He bases them in a town called “Marwen,” and photographs them in various situations that help him make sense of his new world. His photography goes on to become a worldwide hit.

It may be the stuff of a fascinating documentary, but dramatizing it and putting a twee score behind it, as if it were a heartwarming tale about the guy next door, just doesn’t work.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 56 Minutes

If, after reading this Welcome to Marwen review you still want to see it, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Welcome to Marwen Review — Robert Zemeckis’ latest looks like it was intended to be a Forrest Gump for this generation, but it’s no box of chocolates.