Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is remarkably somber for a film so cute; it is a film about small adorable characters and animated inanimate objects spawned from the idea that (to quote the director) "if an object is neglected long enough, it develops a spirit of its own".
Based on Jenny Slate's and Dean Fleischer Camp's beloved web series about a tiny shell with a big heart and even bigger shoes (the popularity of which is acknowledged by the characters/"interviewees" in this film), it's a stop-motion/live-action mockumentary that is sure to make you cry tears of sadness and even more certain to inspire tears of "MY GOD, THIS IS SO PURE AND PRECIOUS". Something to that effect.
Some of you might worry that the film is merely cutesy (which is different than being genuinely cute). But the picture is actually rather interesting on a technical level.
I'd love to see a featurette on just how much of the stop-motion animation is truly stop-motion, and how they made said animations interact so seamlessly with the live-action footage (which is filmed to make the world that surrounds Marcel seem a large and confusing one indeed). Another noteworthy behind-the-scenes detail -- that might have influenced the themes and tone of the film in some way -- is the fact that, whereas Fleischer-Camp and Slate were married when they created the original web series together, they worked on the movie as exes.
Last but not least: like all great things, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On also contains an appearance by Nathan Fielder. Why are you still here?
