I love stop-motion animation. I have always admired the amount of planning, work and patience that goes into it (this movie took seven years to make!), and the results rarely disappoint. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On seemed like a nice, cosy movie that would melt your heart, and that would be that. But imagine my surprise when this movie did more than that. It talks about deeper things like family, a sense of connection, and the bizarre relationship documentarians have with their subjects. Yep, on top of this movie being extremely adorable, funny, charming and emotional, it gives you something to ponder. I will tip my hand early and say this is a perfect movie for me.
It would have been so easy to make this into an uplifting and “dumb” movie that won’t give you much, but it makes you feel all the right emotions. There are many of these movies across different genres that exist for one purpose only. They don’t want you to learn any lesson or think too hard about much; those films exist simply to entertain you. But Marcel the Shell with Shoes On doesn’t fall into that trap, and from the start, you can tell you are in for something more than that. Whether it’s his relationship with his grandma, the genius way he learned to use his environment to his advantage (tennis ball as a form of transport is a brilliant idea) or the unexpected snark he comes up with every once in a while, Marcel is no ordinary shell. It would be so easy to dumb him down and infantilize his character, but no, he has an edge. Throughout the film, we can tell the filmmakers wanted us to believe he lived in this world for a while, so he goes through many emotions, and how he acts is not always adorable. And that’s a good thing!
One of the best decisions was to make this film as this documentary, where it feels like we are there with him, just watching him go about his day and solving different problems. That documentary aspect also gives this movie “license” to talk about that specific aspect of this genre, where the “genuine” documentarian should never intervene or insert themselves into the story. But that creates this odd thing where we see Marcel struggle many times with some tasks, and our documentarian (Dean Fleischer Camp) could always help, but he can’t, and Marcel calls him out on that. The movie doesn’t spend too much time on this angle, but I found this fascinating, as that is why I always struggled with the few documentaries I have seen.
What I also thought was smart was that this movie showed us the difference between helping and sharing, being a fan and actually doing something productive. When Marcel goes viral, he makes a comment about how many people in the comments are saying nice stuff, but that doesn’t help him and his situation where he is still no closer to finding his family. Also, we then see many of those fans taking selfies in front of his house, just so they can say they were there. For a movie about a 1-inch shell that can talk and is looking for his lost family, those are surprising themes to comment on so openly, and I appreciated it.
But the heart of this movie is Marcel and his relationship with his grandma Connie (voiced by the legendary Isabella Rossellini), and that serves as a proxy to show us just how important family is to Marcel. Although we can tell what will happen (and you can too if you have seen any movie in your life), this film sets up everything so well that it still hurts when THAT scene happens. And without spoiling this movie too much, that is why the ending works; it feels so cathartic. I am not afraid to admit that Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is only the third movie (behind Coco (2017) and CODA (2021, my review here)) that made me cry, and it was during the end when something major happened. And although they were happy-ish tears and not as many, it still counts, and I must admit, this film hit me hard, and I enjoyed it.
I must mention Jenny Slate and her extraordinary voice performance. As someone who has known her mainly from Parks and Rec (2009 – 2015) and a couple of movies, I would have never recognised that was her. She did the voice of a five-year-old child so well that it was almost scary knowing it was her. But she makes Marcel work, and her voice is perfect for the character without being “perfect” – she nailed the mannerisms of kids and talks exactly like they would. And occasionally, she throws you a curve ball, whether it’s a snarky comment about a dog (“Every time I do this, that dog goes totally crazy. He sees something truly elegant in the sky, and this is his reaction? What a sad type of idiot.“) or that brilliant line about people being fans rather than community.
If you couldn’t tell by now, I loved this movie. I think the final “nail in the coffin” is the perfect runtime of 90 minutes (I believe it’s even less without the end credits), where this cute shell never overstays its welcome. We come in, get familiar with Marcel and his worldview, embark on this quest alongside him, and we are out, probably sobbing but still feeling like this journey was delightful and gave me things to think about on top of all the family stuff.
Overall, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a beautiful movie. It touches you on a deeper level by having the main protagonist be a literal shell that can walk and talk, but that shell has been through a lot and is forced to grow up and search for his family. And it’s this journey and all the ups and downs you will enjoy; you may cry, but most importantly, you will feel like this movie is impossible to hate. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is like the movie equivalent of a hot cup of cocoa on a fall Sunday afternoon, and you just cosied up in front of the fireplace/TV/pick your favourite Sunday afternoon activity. Simply brilliant.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke