Movie Review: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A top notch family film in every way. 

In 2010 voice actress Jenny Slate (average movie goers may know her best for voicing Gidget in The Secret Life of Pets films) and her then husband filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp (who is slated to direct Disney's Lio and Stitch remake) made a wonderful short film called Marcel the Shell with Shoes On about an anthropomorphic shell telling of his life. Though the character hasn't become a household name, those who knew him were so charmed by him that two more short films were made with him (the first in 2011 and the second in 2014), as well as two tie-in books. Since 2014 the two had talked about making a feature film with this lovable little guy and luckily for us that movie is finally here. It does not disappoint in any way. 

With how many movies today seem to go for bigger and grander storylines, there is something incredibly charming about a small and unpretentious little film like that making its way to movie theaters. Yet this movie's simplicity may catch many off guard for just what a wonderful treat they are in for. 

The heart of this movie rests mainly in the main character. I simply cannot see how anyone could not be completely charmed by this little guy. He has a huge heart and always tries to see the good in everyone he may encounter. His interactions with the documentary filmmaker making a movie about his life (Dean Fleischer-Camp playing himself) enforce this idea and his obvious sweetness quickly wins both the filmmaker and our hearts. Much of this is also due to how he is never afraid to show us who he is. He is simply Marcel and that is something he could never and would never hide. Yet there is still more to him than his kind heart and good-natured sense of humor. He is a character who has been hurt and who is still hurting. Because of this he has a fear of ever being hurt again. Still, he tries not to let this fear get to him and remain optimistic and keep his sense of fun all through the pain. Because of this a seashell with a googly eye becomes as real of a person as anyone we know personally. Of course, talking about this character, it is hard not to take some time to praise Jenny Slate's wonderful voice work, which is simply perfect and capture the essence of who this character is. This is especially true of the scenes with Marcel singing, which are simply incredibly charming.  

Another element that makes this film so special is how it expertly handles weaving its quirky sense of humor and the more emotional moments as well. This movie has a wonderfully funny and weird sense of humor. As offbeat as much of the comedy is it is also incredibly funny and I (and the audience in the theater with me) laughed out loud quite a bit. Yet this movie also contains some surprisingly emotional moments, that are incredibly effective. I am sure some people may be caught off guard when they find themselves getting teary eyed over an animated seashell. Yet these different elements never feel like they belong in a separate film. The reason for this is simple. Every joke and emotional moment come straight from the characters. As silly as much of the humor can get, none of it is simply done for the sake of silliness but instead comes directly out of who these characters are. This is also true of the emotional scenes. Because of this the movie can move directly from an emotional scene to a funny one without ever feeling forced or distracting. Looking at how many movies have failed to do just this, makes this seemingly simply little film all the more impressive. 

The stop-motion animation in this film is incredibly impressive. While there has been plenty of beautiful animation that has called attention to itself, that is not the case here. Instead the masterfulness of this animation comes from the fact that it makes you forget you are looking at animation. Instead you just accept that Marcel is a real talking seashell interacting with live action people. This masterful work is supervised by The Chiodo Bros, whose animation has appeared in such movies as RoboCop (1986), UHF (1988) and Elf (2003). They also have done some wonderful stop motion sequences for some episodes of The Simpsons. 

This is a must see.