Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a live-action/stop-motion hybrid dramedy mockumentary film directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and written by Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate and Nick Paley, based upon Fleischer Camp and Slate's short films of the same name. It premiered on the festival circuit in 2021 and received a limited theatrical release on June 24, 2022, from A24.
Slate reprises her role as Marcel, an inch-tall, talking seashell with shoes, living in a human house with his grandmother (Isabella Rossellini). With the aid of a human documentarian (Fleischer Camp), he sets out on a journey to find other talking shells like himself.
Previews: Trailer
Tropes with shoes on:
- Adorably Precocious Child: Marcel is a tiny philosopher. Jenny Slate's voice acting perfectly captures the grave intonation of a child who is serious and intelligent but ridiculously cute.
- An Aesop:
- A fandom that loves you is not the same thing as a community that cares for you.
- Change can be scary, but it's part of life and we must be brave to accept change.Marcel: But what if everything changes?
Connie: (smiling) It will.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Dean's obsession with recording is portrayed as him just wanting to be an observant in life rather than an active participant, which in turn makes him constantly stay at an arm's length from people, even the ones he cares about like his wife and Marcel. Marcel calls this out when, while working in the dark, his light goes out and he can't light it again, but Dean initially refuses to help out of a belief that as the one making a documentary, he shouldn't interfere, even when it is to the benefit of the subject. After Marcel says this, Dean has no response and simply lights the candle again.Marcel: You know, Dean, have you ever thought that your life might be a bit less lonely and a bit more integrated if you took the time to connect with somebody and not just make videos about them?
- Art Evolution: As opposed to the more limited animation of the shorts, Marcel is more articulated and animated, capable of blinking and actually moving his feet.
- As Himself:
- The documentarian is named Dean, with a brief blurry shot of a clapperboard showing his last name. While not a one-to-one match to the film's director, in a meta sense, the film depicts some aspects of Fleischer Camp's life (uploaded Marcel videos to YouTube, received media attention, went through a divorce), with the key difference, of course, being that Marcel is real.
- Played straight with Lesley Stahl, as well as a 60 Minutes crew that goes to Dean's house to film a story on Marcel and ultimately helps him reunite with his family.
- Bad Influencer: After Marcel's live streams asking for help finding his family go viral, people start coming up to his property—which he shared on the streams—solely to show themselves having visited the home of the now-famous shell, using his popularity to improve their social media standing, not to actually help him. The unwanted attention gets so bad that after Marcel and Dean come back home from their road trip, they find that Connie got startled by a couple of young influencers who trespassed on the property and fell off the washing machine, cracking her shell. This, in turn, leads to Marcel becoming overprotective of her.
- Bamboo Technology: A miniature variant. Due to his size, Marcel has cobbled together various gadgets using household appliances.
- Big Damn Movie: The film takes the character from the simple shorts and places him into a (slightly) grander emotional adventure.
- Bittersweet Ending: More "sweet" than bitter, but although Marcel happily reunites with his family and community, Connie doesn't live long enough to join the reunion. However, Marcel was able to provide a proper funeral ceremony for her with the shell community.
- Bookends: The movie starts off with a low, whistling sound, something which is revealed at the end to be the sound the wind makes when it goes through Marcel's shell.
- Celebrity Cameo: As indicated by the trailer, the film has Lesley Stahl, Brian Williams and Conan O'Brien as themselves, reporting on Marcel's quest. The latter two just appear in the form of archival footage of their real-life reports on the "Marcel" shorts at the height of their popularity, but Stahl has a somewhat more substantial role as Marcel and Connie's idol who eventually helps them reunite their family.
- Celebrity Paradox: Marcel sees a social media profile pic of Dean with his ex-wife briefly before Dean quickly changes the browser tab. Dean's ex-wife happens to be Jenny Slate, the voice of Marcel; she was married to Fleischer Camp from 2012 to 2016.
- Chekhov's Gun: When discussing the ex-couple that formerly lived in his house, Marcel mentions that his family had a protocol in place (hiding in a dresser drawer) for whenever the two started arguing with each other. When the exes are reunited at the man's new house and start arguing again, Marcel remembers the protocol and ends up finding his family hiding in a dresser drawer.
- Cool Old Lady: Nana Connie may be old, but she is usually very relaxed, is shown to have maintained a tiny garden, and even befriended some of the local insects.
- Dolly Zoom: A very subtle one is used after Marcel discovers Nana Connie's body.
- Magic Realism: The film is set in a world where no one finds it unusual that shells and other small objects can live and talk (Word of God states that "when an object is neglected long enough, it develops a spirit of its own").
- Mood Whiplash: When Marcel buries Connie's body in the garden, the camera zooms out to a wide shot of him all alone. However, it's revealed that the shot is coming from Dean up on a nearby tree on a neighbor's property; said neighbor sees Dean and—both annoyed at Dean's invasion and concerned about him falling off because he doesn't have insurance and cannot pay for any damages Dean could possibly bring to himself or the property—demands him to come down immediately.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Marcel is confused as to why one of the commenters under his call to action video thinks he's a girl.Commenter: She's the best! I love her pink shoes!
Marcel: "She?" What? But my dad has pink shoes! So did my grandfather! - Remember the New Guy?: The film shows the creation of the original shorts, suggesting that the film is a continuation of the videos, but they now include another shell, Marcel's grandma Connie.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: The shell characters and several smaller props are stop-motion animated but everything else is live-action.
- Scavenged Punk: Marcel's whole life in the house is based on materials scavenged from humans. For example, his musical instrument is a piece of pasta and his vehicle is a modified tennis ball.
- Separated from the Adults: Mostly. The only adult who's left in Marcel's life is Connie until her death.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The film's main conflict is whether Marcel and Connie will ever see their family again. The trailer contains shots of Marcel among other shells, showing that he is reunited with his community. The footage can't be from a flashback, since it's meant to be a documentary and Dean didn't meet Marcel until after his family disappeared.
- A True Story in My Universe: We see Dean record and upload some of the original web videos that the movie is based on.
- Tuckerization: Nana Connie is named after Jenny Slate's real-life grandmother, Constance.
- Unseen No More: The documentarian appears on-screen for the first time, though not until the very end of the film.
- Vague Age: Marcel's age is never stated in the movie, and Word of God says that he doesn't even have one.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: In-universe, a commenter mistakes Marcel for a girl due to him wearing pink shoes.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: During Marcel and Dean's road trip to find his family, Marcel pukes (multiple times) due to carsickness. Luckily it doesn't make much of a mess due to Marcel's size.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Marcel has to look after his grandmother and himself despite still being a little boy—er, shell.
