Marcel The Shell With Shoes On Review
Unabashedly cute, heartwarming and lovely, the most shocking thing about this movie is just how potent and uplifting the story is.
When documentarian Dean (Dean Fleischer-Camp) rents an airbnb in the aftermath of his divorce, he doesn’t expect to run into another occupant. That occupant is Marcel (Jenny Slate), a sentient shell with shoes on. Marcel lives with his Grandmother, but he remains heartbroken by the unexpected loss of the rest of his extended shell family two years earlier. Dean begins creating a series of short online documentaries about Marcel, showing his life and how he’s adapted to living without the aid of his extended family, but it’s when Marcel blows up online that he realizes he might be able to parlay his newfound fame into a reunion with his family.
It’s always a risk expanding a short to a feature, but Marcel The Shell With Shoes On succeeds on every level with its expanded story; crating a really emotional and affecting piece that retains its cutesy charm.
Marcel is so impeccably performed by Slate, that it is hard not to be on his side immediately. He’s funny, charming, brave, and emotionally real, despite the fact that he is a shell. His interactions with Dean feel real, and the banter is perfectly poised. Dean, on the other hand, occasionally feels a bit contrived, especially when he isn’t assisting Marcel while the shell deals with some traumatic experiences.
The real emotional heart of this film is the relationship between Marcel and his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini). It’s a wonderfully fleshed out relationship that will have you in tears.
The other important point to touch on is the visuals of the piece. The cinematography and inventive animation in the film is impeccable. The grade is gorgeous, the way the light falls into the yard and the house is stunning, and all of the usage of common household items by Marcel in different perspectives is inventive and impressive.
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On builds off a short that had the cute character and gorgeous cinematography downpat, and it does so by crafting a heartwarming story that will fill you with joy, even as it makes you cry.
