Jenny Slate, the stand-up comedian and creator and star of “Obvious Child,” made a short film in 2010 about a tiny talking shell called Marcel. It went viral, people online started quoting the amiably oblivious protagonist.
Slate has decided to stretch her short into a 90-minute feature, titled “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.” She’s aided by director Dean Fleischer Camp, who also stars in the film as a documentary filmmaker tackling Marcel’s online success. How meta.
Slate’s sweetly endearing vocal performance as the titular character, a tiny shell with one googly eye and a pair of shoes, is a highlight. Marcel becomes the subject for a documentary that Camp (playing himself) is shooting. The result is a mock-doc that sadly overstays its welcome.
The film is mostly a three-hander featuring Marcel, his “Nana Connie” and Camp. The filmmaking beautifully combines stop-motion animation with live action. There are several clever bits, most having to do with Marcel’s aloofness with human behaviour.
In between, the jokes and twee set pieces, is genuinely effective vocal work from Isabella Rossellini as Connie. When health issues start to arise, Marcel has to take care of his grandma while grappling with the sudden online stardom.
When drama starts to kick in instead of comedy, that’s when the film starts to overstay its welcome. Becoming a viral sensation, and unexpected internet star, Marcel decides to look for his family, which leads him to being featured in a “60 Minutes” segment featuring Lesley Stahl (playing herself).
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” works on some level, not all the time, but it posits us with the kind of genuine creativity lacking in much of animation these days. And yet, it also meanders — 90 minutes is a bit too lengthy for such a simple concept. ‘Marcel’ was of course made as fan service, to please the millions who fell for this cute shell on YouTube, but it won’t win over many new converts. [B-]