Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Grade: B-

I would almost rather see a poorly reviewed bad movie than be disappointed by a highly anticipated one that I wanted to love. Somehow, experiencing the latter feels worse. It stings a bit, like I’ve been personally let down. At least with an obvious dud, I wouldn’t have an emotional stake in it anyway.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On crawled into theatres recently. It is an amazing endearing idea for a short film, padded and stretched to feature length. So, it did not surprise me to learn that it started out as three short films, each running 4 minutes a piece, released from 2010 to 2014. Marcel is a one-inch-tall shell with shoes and a face, which consists of a mouth and one eye. He has a raspy, singsongy, childlike tone, and is voiced by 40-year-old actress Jenny Slate. Slate is a voice-over veteran; heard more often than seen throughout her career in projects such as Zootopia, Bob’s Burgers, and the Secret Life of Pets films. Marcel lives with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini). They are such avid 60 Minutes fans that they call it “the show” – as it’s THE only show for them. The ways they are able to eat, sleep, move around, and live are incredibly resourceful, with various levels of believability.

Connie and Marcel used to be a part of a large vibrant community which included other shells and discarded pocket-sized trinkets. But most of “the family” was packed up and taken when the humans residing in the house moved away. It is now an Airbnb, and a new man – an aspiring filmmaker named Dean – lives there. Dean somehow discovers, hears, understands, and befriends Marcel. (Odd that he’d be the first, given that the shells speak English, and talk at normal human volume.) He is so touched by Marcel’s story, that he films a series of interviews with him, and is motivated to help reunite Marcel and Connie with their family.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is all documentary-style. It establishes one narrative tone of voice, and unwaveringly stays there. Dean is played by director/creator Dean Fleischer-Camp, who does a fine job keeping his role conversational and casual. I never caught him acting, but perhaps some more theatrics and pathos might have better served the movie. I got a vibe of the film thinking quite highly of itself. Its lofty pretentiousness and payoffs are not always earned. There are so many scenes where Marcel muses philosophically. I’ll spoil my favorite. He observes how the sun always seems to shine brighter the day after something terrible happens, and that “if I were somebody else, I would really be enjoying this.”

The film is undeniably well-made, Marcel is adorable, and the voice talent is on point. But there is nothing interesting enough to elevate it above anything other than a typical exercise in style. I was endlessly fascinated and captivated by movies like The Florida Project and Birdman, which were so set apart and different, and bursting with life in their unique worlds, that they made traditional “normal” movies look inferior in comparison. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is certainly off the beaten path, but in this case, all it did was remind me why these “normal” movies ARE the norm.

Grade: B-