Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is a mocumentary about the titular shell, based on the series of youtube videos of the same name. Marcel(Jenny Slate) lives in an AirBnB home with his grandma Connie(Isabella Rossellini), after a breakup filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp(himself) rents out the house and begins to make a documentary about Marcel and the two become friends.
Slate brings her unique blend of comedy and pathos to the role, earnestly grappling with difficult honest emotion one minute and vocalizing Marcel's excessive grunts as he tries to harvest a root vegetable the next. It's simple but its incredibly deep with an ever present mix of naivete, wonder, humor, and emotional reality. Rossellini, perfectly cast, perfectly performed, she's a delight. Fleischer-Camp although mostly off screen with limited dialogue also has a kind of shockingly effective, and affecting, arch.
Mostly filmed in a single location the stop-motion animation and meticulous crafty set design make that limitation forgettable, it's visually interesting, a feat given the constraint of the scope, and as the emotional story moves forward it is always equally propelled by understated laughs. Thematically rich with much to say about the human condition as well as the present we all live in, still it works effortlessly as a kids film, a family film, and an adult film equally. There are layers to plum if you want but even on the surface it is a cute, fun ride.
Quiet, restrained yet rich and hilarious.
Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.
Don't Miss It.
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