Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

Marcel is a shell, as you can tell by his body.

He lives with his grandmother, Connie. She is also a shell. They both wear shoes. After a mysterious tragedy, Marcel and Connie are the only residents left in their small town of shells, old pretzels, a Cheetos or two, and other various bric-a-brac. They live quiet lives along the edges of an AirBnB, lives that, for the most part, go unnoticed, at least until Marcel meets a documentarian staying at the Airbnb. The duo make a short film about Marcel, and it goes viral, giving the little shell a new hope of reuniting with his long-lost loved ones.

I’m really glad that I finally watched this.

Created by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer Camp while bored at a wedding, the idea has been a few short films and a bestselling book before becoming a live action/stop motion film. Sweetly sad, touching, and surprisingly funny, especially with how Slate voices Marcel, it’s a film about the ups and downs of social media fame, as well as a tale of caregivers who have lost loved ones and the sense of grief and loss that comes in the aftermath, while also being a story about friendship, and finding your people.

Is it basically The Littles meets The Adventures of the Gummi Bears cartoon?

Yes, but much more delightful.

The Littles were, of course, pixies in overalls and newsboy caps who lived in the walls of human homes, and made their houses, vehicles, and equipment out of garbage like milk cartons, bottle caps, and paper clips.

The Adventures of the Gummi Bears was the story of the last tribe of forest bears—who wore shirts, but no pants, and were addicted to a liquid meth they called Gummi Berry Juice—with an oft-repeated plot point of how the youngest Gummi Bear would eventually be the last one in the whole world, once the other Gummi Bears all died of old age or whatever.

Right? Shocking. This idea kept my 10-year-old-Saturday-morning-cartoon-loving mind up at nights.

Anyway…

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is absolutely worth watching. It’s not just funny and sweet, it’s a surprisingly powerful commentary on the stages of grief, and a meditation on how the dark times in our lives can sometimes be the catalyst for making us better in the long run. It’s really good.