Welcome to Marwen

For a movie that takes place largely inside someone’s head, Welcome to Marwen lacks the imagination and artistry of its true-life subject.

Poignancy is overwhelmed by sentimentality in this ambitious attempt by Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) to illustrate one man’s struggle to cope with senseless trauma.

Any biopic of Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) must include parallel intertwined stories of fact and fantasy, which he sometimes has difficulty separating.

As the film opens, Hogancamp lives a solitary and withdrawn existence, suffering mental and physical repercussions following a brutal attack that left him near death. He needs written reminders about everyday tasks as small as taking his medication or turning out the lights when he leaves the house.

He spends most of his time on photography, crafting stories in his miniature world known as Marwen, in which Mark’s plasticine alter-ego is a misogynistic World War II fighter pilot hanging out with scantily clad female companions — each based on a woman in Mark’s actual life — to fight off supposed Nazis.

Back in the real world, Mark has a few friends, including a new neighbor (Leslie Mann) and a hobby-shop owner (Meritt Wever), who offer support as Mark dreads the upcoming sentencing hearing for his alleged attackers.

Hogancamp’s life also was the subject of Marwencol, a documentary that provides more even-handed insight into his unique art and its healing role in his life.

This film, to its credit, tries a different approach by keeping its focus on Mark’s eccentricities and trying to convey a sympathetic perspective. Except that the muddled tone in the screenplay by Zemeckis and Caroline Thompson (The Nightmare Before Christmas) makes it unclear whether we’re supposed to appreciate his resilience or pity his circumstances. The result is caught somewhere in the middle.

Carell brings depth and complexity to a challenging role, trying to find hope amid Mark’s despair while keeping his rough edges intact. He’s somehow both creepy and compassionate.

The film also benefits from technical proficiency as Zemeckis seamlessly weaves together the sequences featuring humans and action figures, incorporating motion-capture animation for the latter. Dramatically, however, it struggles to make the miniatures compelling.

Welcome to Marwen leaves moviegoers with conflicting emotions — about Mark’s behavior, his artistic legacy, and his internal demons. But most of all, why does a larger-than-life story overflowing with humanity feel so small and plastic?

Rated PG-13, 116 minutes.