Review: I’m in love with a mollusk, the little hero of ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ | movie reviews

By Michael Phillips | Chicago Grandstand

Marcel Proust had his madeleines steeped in memory. Marcel Marceau had his invisible dog and a whole life of pantomime. But we’re unlikely to ever see a more alluring Marcel than the inch-tall philosopher and gentle, inspiring sage at the center of “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.”

I’ve loved Marcel ever since the stop-motion animation star, created by Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate, popped up in a short posted in 2010 on YouTube, viewed nearly 33 million times. And came a suite, then another. And two picture books. And now a feature film, which shot beautifully and which, like Marcel, is just the right size.

When newcomers learn that Marcel and his movie are “lovely,” it will likely mean more customers for “Minions: The Rise of Gru.” So be it. The world is big enough for another onslaught of pill-shaped maniacs and a caring, sociable talking mollusk.

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In an Airbnb rental somewhere in Los Angeles, documentary filmmaker Dean, played by Fleischer-Camp, discovers Marcel and Marcel’s grandmother, Nana Connie, who also lives there. They are tiny, hardy Lilliputians, adapting intelligently to their human-scale environment and improving in it in most ways.

Marcel sleeps in his “bread room”, which is a room with a bed made from two slices of bread. Nana Connie tends a huge garden, pops popcorn kernels with a magnifying glass and, as the story progresses, deals with forgetfulness and the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Not too long ago, Marcel and Connie were surrounded by family and friends, and as Marcel told us early on, it takes 20 seashells to make a functioning community. This is reduced to two. With the help of filmmaker Dean, Marcel embarks on a quest to find out what happened to this community and how it could once again give Marcel what he misses so much.

This description makes the film sound close, in terms of story, to “Finding Nemo” or “Finding Dory”. A24’s unusually hard-sell trailer (as opposed to the hard-shell) suggests a deeper, more eye-catching experience than Fleischer-Camp and Slate are seeking. The tone and texture of the film itself is light, deft, and deadpan. There is also a plaintive emotion in Marcel’s situation, marked by the loss he has suffered and the loss he is afraid to suffer with his sick grandmother. It’s rarely forced or hammered into predictable dramatic beats or action sequences, though there’s plenty of action suggestive of a zipline or fast, unpredictable rides around the house (Marcel moves in a tennis ball) .

These shells are completely human, with habits and tastes inspired by fragments of popular culture seen through the eyes of a child. Nana Connie and Marcel religiously watch “60 Minutes”; they call it “the show” and they admire journalist Lesley Stahl (who plays a major role in the film) because she’s “fearless” and “classic”. Those words apply equally to Fleischer-Camp and Slate: It takes class and courage to stay true to the characters and a style that worked so well in abridged version.

Slate and Fleischer-Camp were married for a time, in the wake of their first “Marcel” collaborations. (The script for the feature is credited to them, along with Elisabeth Holm and Nick Paley.) The interactions between Marcel and Dean play out like cozy old friends who care enough to call each other over their problems. In Marcel, we see a wealth of enviable qualities: determination, wit, kindness and a curiosity for the world.

It’s best not to expect a life-changing experience from “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.” But his tenderness, as well as his best jokes, are welcome at this time.

What “Marcel the shell with shoes” • Four stars out of four • Duration 1:29 • Evaluation PG for some suggestive materials and thematic elements

Friday, July 15, 2022

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Friday, July 15, 2022

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Friday, July 15, 2022

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