'Marcel the Shell With Shoes On': Milton's Jenny Slate voices tiny hero with a huge heart
In “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” Milton native Jenny Slate not only lends her distinct voice to the title character, a fearless, inch-tall gastropod with googly eyes and orange sneakers, but she also helped create him with her ex-husband, Dean Fleischer-Camp.
The movie is a feature adaptation of the popular stop-motion shorts and best-selling books Slate co-wrote with Fleischer-Camp, who directs in addition to playing the role of a camera-shy documentary filmmaker. Slate, an actor, writer and comedian, draws from within to instill Marcel with the insight and sensibilities that provide the mini mollusk a knowledge of the human condition surpassing most of us.
Shot mockumentary style, the story follows Marcel, who lives a quaint and happy existence with his grandmother, Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini), in an Airbnb home in Los Angeles. Marcel rolls about on his trusty steed (a hollowed-out tennis ball) and swings on a zip line fashioned from strands of human hair. He even makes a trumpet out of a curly piece of dry pasta. “I like myself,” Marcel says squarely into the camera.
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But there’s a sadness in his big bug-eye. The soft-spoken shell wants more out of life, including finding the family members he lost when the couple that owns the house (Thomas Mann and Rosa Salazar) split up. Dean, the documentarian, is there to guide and record the journey that leads Marcel to Internet fame, with millions of followers and an interview with his hero, Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes.” But Marcel discovers being a media sensation is not all it’s cracked up to be. He seeks a “community,” not an “audience.” That’s an insight that evades many. Marcel might be an inanimate object come to life, but in Slate's hands, it's full of realism.
Marcel’s musings never grow tiresome, either: “Guess what my skis are? Toenails from a man”; or, “Guess why I smile a lot? Because it’s worth it.” It’s not hard to imagine Marcel and Ted Lasso hanging out.
My only quibble is that even at a lean 90 minutes, the movie feels stretched, which tends to happen when stories rely on gimmicks, even one as lovable as the diminutive Marcel. The movie works mostly because Fleischer-Camp and Slate are meticulous and inventive in creating a world exclusive to Marcel and Nana Connie. Fleischer-Camp smartly shoots scenes from the ground up to illustrate how enormous our world appears to Nana and Marcel. Nana sleeps in a cosmetic puff and bathes in a teacup. Marcel is grossed out by the slimy worms residing in his garden. All of these details create a rich, lived-in experience. Marcel’s relationship with Nana Connie, who’s named after Slate’s grandmother, adds another emotional dynamic.
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Despite its flaws, you can’t help but root on Marcel. Slate is a big part of that. She infuses her brave little shell with the sweetest melancholic voice, sounding childlike but profound. Marcel always says something worth hearing. Besides “Marcel,” Slate’s ubiquitous voice work includes the part of Gidget, the bouncy Pomeranian in “The Secret Life of Pets,” and Harley Quinn on “The LEGO Batman Movie.” She also lent her pipes to the animated films “Zootopia,” “Despicable Me 3" and “The Lorax.”
But Marcel is her OG, and he’s still the best yet. In the film’s bittersweet finale, there proves to be a method to the madness of Slate and Fleischer-Camp. Their star may be wee, but their tale’s payoff is large, indeed.
‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’
Rating: PG for some suggestive material and thematic elements
Cast: Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini, Rosa Salazar, Thomas Mann, Dean Fleischer-Camp, Lesley Stahl.
Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp
Writers: Jenny Slate, Dean Fleischer-Camp
Running time: 90 minutes
Where to watch: In Boston theaters June 24; South Shore cinemas July 15
Grade: B+
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Reach Dana Barbuto at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'Marcel the Shell With Shoes On': Small movie with a huge heart
