A One Mann’s Movies review of “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” (2023).
Whether you go for “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” will depend on whether you see Marcel as “absolutely adorable” (as one IMDB reviewer mentioned) or “really, really annoying” as Scott Forbes said on this week’s “Flickering Dreams” podcast (available on all good podcast platforms now!).
Me? I thought it was cute but it overstayed its welcome.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Dean (Dean Fleischer Camp) is a documentary maker who discovers a walking, talking 1″ tall shell, Marcel (Voiced by Jenny Slate), living in his Airbnb home together with his granny Connie (Isabella Rossellini). He decides to make a documentary film about Marcel and his quest to find his family, who suddenly disappeared when the previous occupants moved out.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC: “Mild upsetting scenes, rude humour, infrequent drug references”)
Talent:
Starring: Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini.
Directed by: Dean Fleischer Camp.
Written by: Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate & Nick Paley.
Twitter Handle: #MarcelTheShell.
Granny (Isabella Rossellini) giving Marcel (Jenny Slate) some gardening tips. (Source: A24)
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” Review:
Positives:
- There’s a likable Pythonesque quirkiness to the movie that made me warm to it from the opening scene. Marcel rolls around the place inside his tennis ball. They like in little tree-house structures among the house-plants (the world-building here is really nice). And he gathers food from the fruit tree outside by connecting a food processor to it using a rope braided using plug-hole-mined pubic-hair! And it’s difficult not to go “Ahhh” when Marcel is sleeping beween two slices of white bread, slowly rising and falling in time with his breathing (I won’t question how hard shells are supposed to expand and contract like that!)
- The combination of stop-motion animation and live action footage is really cleverly done, particularly in terms of the interactions between the two worlds. For example, as Marcel shuffles through the hall he knocks over an umbrella stand. The umbrellas crash to the ground in real time, but Marcel keeps waddling away in the background. The film kept making me think “OK, how exactly did they do that?”
- There’s a warm fuzzy feelgood moment towards the end of the film where there’s a lot more animation on show! And the film’s not afraid to tug at the heart-strings a bit when a certain character dies.
Negatives:
- So, I really liked this film… but only for a while. I think this is my personal problem with stop-motion animations in general (I found the same in “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinnochio“). Although this one’s only 90 minutes long, I started looking at my watch after 45 minutes. I understand that Camp and Slate launched this character in short animations. And I could really see this working as a kids TV series of short 5 or 10 minute episodes. But I’m afraid my interest just didn’t extend to a full feature film.
- I’m not entirely sure what the target audience would be for this movie. I think it might be too slow-moving for many children, and many of the jokes would go over their heads. And I suspect adult viewers might, like me, get a bit bored with it. I came to the conclusion that the sweet-spot might be students, coming in from a night on the town with a kebab! Which I grant you, is a bit of a limited audience.
Summary Thoughts on “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”:
As for the recent “Pinnochio“, I recognize the technical skill employed in making this one, and enjoyed it to an extent. But I’m afraid I just got a bit bored by the end of it.
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Trailer for “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k98Afd7Nf3Y .
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