With studios always on the looking out for IP to own they’ve almost inevitably turned to the internet and to that end we have Marcel the shell with shoes on another title that says it all. Based on a series of short stop motion animations by comedian Jenny Slate & director Dean Fleischer featuring the walking talking inch eye shell it soon garnered a large dedicated. Marcel is a one eyed mollusc pottering around a large empty house trying to fill time and in that respect this could also be a documentary that follows the post 10 Downing Street career of ex-Prime Minster Gordon Brown. With the stop motion shell combined with a live action surrounding we’re introduced to the large AirBnB he now resides after the owners mysteriously left, the cause of which is hinted at being some sort of separation / divorce and when they left so did Marcels’ family who also disappeared leaving him with just his elderly aunt for company.
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It’s when Dean (Dean Fleischer) a film maker, has moved in and found him that they build up a friendship and he starts to film and document Marcel’s day to day existence uploading it and gaining Marcel a huge following. But Marcel is only a child and wants to know what happened to his family and when the 60 Minutes programme (a bit of a misnomer and that show is never that long!) latches on to his quest they engage with him and film an interview in a bid to help him.
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Many have taken to the Marcel character who is fine in small doses often shouting out inane words saying what he sees and in that respect it’s like being stuck in an eternal time loop with Allison Hammond on Catchphrase. But as the film continues with Marcel spouting his home spun homilies combined with a cutesy appearance and twee voice it does become quickly wearing. With the attention span of youtubers being about as long as the time Brooklyn Beckham spends in a job the appeal of short clip is obvious but drawing it out to an 80 minute feature film run time is something of an endurance test amazed that it took three people to write the thinnest of scripts for the film. The stop motion animation is excellent but Marcel the shell with shoes on is really for the fan base only.
Here’s the trailer for Marcel the shell with shoes on……
