Movie Review # 541: Marcel: The Shell With Shoes On (2022)

Alright, today, we are going to be reviewing a film that seemed to be both a mix of story, and documentary. Interesting choice, I’ll say. Not only that, but just as there were films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit that combined hand-drawn animation, and live-action together, or Happy Feet that did that, but with 3D animation, and live-action together, today’s review is one that combines stop-motion animation, and live-action together. Presenting the one, and only, Marcel: The Shell With Shoes On, released by a newer independent film company called A24.

Plot: A divorced documentary filmmaker named Dean (Dean Fleischer Camp) discovers that two talking shells, Marcel (Jenny Slate), and his grandmother Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini) live in an abandoned home. While conversing especially with Marcel, Dean discovers that Marcel wants to see if he can find other talking shells like him, and his grandmother. By working together, will Marcel be able to accomplish his mission?

Even though I thought this film was out of theaters, I’m glad that I looked again. Even though not quite one of the best films, it was still very fun. First of all, yes, the concept of finding others of your kind has likely been done quite a few times before. However, the way that it’s done here is actually quite clever. Here you have clever things like a talking shell rolling about in a tennis ball just to get around the house quicker when need be, and just seeing how determined Marcel is to accomplish his dreams. It was also great that Marcel at least has a grandmother that encourages him to not be afraid of going after something, despite sometimes feeling tempting to do so. Additionally, how could you not like stop motion animation, and live-action being blended together? I mean yeah, we’ve seen that happen with other types of animation, but what about this particular type, you know? As for the score, it’s pretty good too. One of the main highlights of the score is that it is slow at times, but it can also feel rather calm, and peaceful at others, especially when the movie takes us outdoors. Oh, and it’s cool how we have a female actress like Jenny Slate voicing a male character like Marcel. Besides cases like a female voicing Christopher Peeper in the Superbook kid’s TV show, or a young female playing Andy on a Toy Story play on a Disney cruise line, how often can we hear of that being the case, and the female actress pulling it off surprisingly well? Next, the film also has this really cool creativity in it’s own way with how the story goes. Another thing to mention is how could I not mention how you’d be surprised with how things are handled in this film, especially near the end? Finally, the messages of not giving up, and not letting things like fear, or other factors preventing one from achieving goals, and dreams, are very well done. The only downside is that Marcel: The Shell With Shoes does seem to drag at least for the first 15-30 minutes before getting more of a move on with it’s story. Also, did we really need to have the film documentarian, Dean, get a divorce? I guess if it’s life, maybe, but still.

And that’s my review for Marcel: The Shell With Shoes. Despite the film not being quite as engaging, especially in the beginning, it’s still very good. It was especially nice to have a lesser known independent movie company like A24 make a film like this. Nit to mention that it was cool to have a film with a storyline similar to that of films like Charlotte’s Web, or The Adventures Of Milo & Otis, or films like those, you know? And again, you can’t go wrong with the messages of this film. I would say that if you have a theater near you that has this film playing, I would say see it, and see what you think!

Final Grade: A-