I’ve made no secret that I’m a fan of A24, even though their movies can be hit and miss, usually, for me, they are hits. So I couldn’t wait to see Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
If you saw the trailer for this, you know what to expect, it’s about a little shell, called Marcel, who has shoes on. The original video was made by Dean Fleischer-Camp directing and Jenny Slate doing the voice of Marcel. It was a sweet little video that went viral.
9 years later, A24 produced an entire movie from the short. This feature-length adaptation, has Dean (Fleischer-Camp) moving into an Air B&B, which is where Marcel and his grandmother live. The rest of their group disappeared after the last guests of the Air B&B accidentally packed them before leaving.
Dean decides to make a documentary about Marcel and his life, which soon turns into a search for his missing group. That’s all I’ll say about the story, but it does go in the direction you think.
What is great about this movie is its simplicity, it’s the old favorite of “a fish out of water” story, but Marcel is such a sweet character, you can’t help but like him.
I loved the fact that Marcel was a mollusk, with one eye, and a pair of shoes on. Like he’s almost just made up of spare parts, but his personality of him was great. Well, in the original short, Marcel was great, asking odd questions and making silly little comments.
“One day I ate a piece of cheese and cholesterol went up to 900”
The downside of the movie was, that they didn’t expand on this side of Marcel’s personality. His little one-liners, in the original short, were great, whereas the movie didn’t do as many. This made the movie just not as good as the short.
It was a shame, coz I really wanted to like this and I did like it, I just didn’t love it. It is a very sweet movie, it’s very cute, and it’s very heartfelt, but it just wasn’t amazing. If you know me, and the usual stuff I watch, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is the complete opposite of A Serbian Film.
I will say to give it a watch since it is funny, Marcel is great and the story is predictable, but it is a very good feel-good movie. I can imagine kids watching this and then building little houses and walkways, like Marcel and his grandmother had.
Overall, I give the movie a solid 4 out of 5, it’s good, but it’s not great.
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