Marcel the Shell with Shoes on

A sentient shell sets out to find his family with help from a documentary filmmaker in Dean Fleischer-Camp's effortlessly charming feature debut.

Imay seem like something of a backhanded comment to say that someone has a voice for animation, but for all of her achievements in the live-action world (from 2014 romcom Obvious Child on down), Jenny Slate’s undeniable gift is purely vocal. And despite sparky turns in cartoon series from Bob’s Burgers to Big Mouth, no project has captured that as well as her shoestring breakthrough, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – a series of shorts released on YouTube between 2010 and 2014, created with Slate’s then-partner (and now ex-husband), director Dean Fleischer-Camp.

Marcel is a small shell kitted out with one oversized googly eye, two miniature sneaker-shoes, and Slate’s inimitable voice: high-pitched, equally nasal and husky, lightly drawling with more than a hint of a croak. The film quite unexpectedly delightful, much like the original Marcel shorts, which played out as 3-minute grab-bags of gags and skits presented in mock-doc fashion, charting the life and worldview of this tiny, chatty creature. This feature adaptation, written by Slate, Fleischer-Camp and Nick Paley, broadens the horizon in every direction.

The mockumentary framing remains, as Marcel is interviewed by an (initially) off-camera director (Fleischer-Camp), exploring an existence not dissimilar from that of Mary Norton’s ‘The Borrowers’ (as brought to the screen by Studio Ghibli in 2010’s Arrietty). To survive in the nooks and crannies of the immense surroundings of a suburban house, Marcel has devised a catalogue of hacks and strategies, from using a tennis ball as a vehicle for speedy, chaotic travel, to rappelling from tree branch to windowsill in a makeshift shoe elevator. In a neat twist, the making of the shorts is folded into the feature, as Dean and Marcel’s own YouTube videos ‘blow up’, become meme-fodder, and attract scores of ardent online fans.

Throughout, there’s a pleasing handcrafted aspect to Marcel’s world – wire muselet bottle-toppers unwind into deck chairs, compact mirrors are dressed as beds – that complements the live action/stop-motion hybrid nature of the production. Yet despite the project’s DIY roots, the feature is a fully crewed-up affair, with ranks of animators able to bring expressive personality to a character that was once charmingly cobbled-together.

For all the quirks, though, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is shot through with a certain sadness. Disasterpeace’s minimal electronic score captures a fragile quality that is equal parts whimsy and melancholy. The house itself, we soon find out, is not a home; in Marcel’s words, it’s a ‘computer hotel’ (or an Airbnb to you and me).

Likewise, loss and loneliness are never far away: here, the young shell is accompanied by his ailing grandmother Nana Connie (voiced by Isabella Rosselini, but named after Slate’s own grandma). They’re the only two survivors of an event that sent the rest of their extended family to parts unknown. The director – recently separated from his wife – is drawn in, and they become united in a quest for connection and community in an uncaring world.

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Published 16 Feb 2023

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