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Starring: Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini, Rosa Salazar, Thomas Mann, Lesley Stahl, Dean Fleischer-Camp
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
A24’s live-action animated comedy directed and co-written by Dean Fleischer-Camp. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022) follows Marcell (Jenny Slate), a one inch tall shell, who lives with his grandmother, Connie (Isabella Rossellini), and their pet lint, Alan. After a documentary filmmaker, Dean (Dean Fleischer-Camp), discovers them, Marcel decides to search for his family.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'My name is Marcel, and I'm partially a shell, as you can see on my body, but I also have shoes, and a face. So, I like that about myself, and I like myself. And I have a lot of other great qualities as well.' Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Marcel: It’s pretty much common knowledge that it takes at least twenty shells to have a community. That that’s about the minimum that you need to survive, so. I think at first I was thinking we’re not going to make it. But sometimes you just have to disregard those rules and think, “Well, actually, the rule is that I want to be having a good life, and stay alive, and not just survive, but have a good life.
Marcel: There are actually only two of us now. Myself, and my grandmother, Nana Connie. Back when the man and the woman lived here, there were a lot of us. More sounds, and smells, and things to say, because there were more people to talk to.
Dean: I’m making like a little documentary that I might put online.
Marcel: Online?
Dean: Yeah.
Marcel: Eh, you lost me.
'Sometimes, people say that my head is too big for my body. And then I say, “Compared to what?”' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Dean: Where did you get the rope?
Marcel: This? I’ll show you. I come to the bathroom and I get these curly hairs. They’re the strongest, because you have to uncurl it, but then you can see it’s really long and strong. Hey, what are you laughing at? We call them hardy hairs.
Marcel: This is my bread room. It’s a bedroom, but I sleep on a piece of bread.
Marcel: Sometimes, people say that my head is too big for my body. And then I say, “Compared to what?”
Marcel: Sometimes, if I don’t have a way to itch my itch, the only thing I can do is I just stand there. I just let it get me, and I just have to scream it out.
'The rule is that I want to be having a good life, and stay alive, and not just survive, but have a good life.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take. That’s a quote. I didn’t make that up.
Marcel: What is cleaning the house if all she does is move things around, and disturb the entire environment?
Marcel: I got to go check on Nana Connie if this lady’s going to be running the vacuum.
Connie: You’re making what?
Dean: A documentary.
Marcel: Oh, it’s like a movie, but nobody has any lines, and nobody even knows what it is while they’re making it? No?
Dean: That’s sort of a way to put it, yeah.
Marcel: [referring to Connie] She’s always been a pretty tough cookie. Everything has a function with her. There’s no one button that’s there for decoration. You know what I mean? She’s just like a backhoe. But I will say you can really see her tender side when she’s working with the bugs.
'You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: [referring to the worm] His whole body looks like his pants are off.
Marcel: [referring to Connie] It reminds me of Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act, how she helps them to do graffiti in a meaningful way or something.
Marcel: [referring to Connide] She has lost a small piece of a very large puzzle.
Marcel: You know, my cousin fell asleep in a pocket, and that’s why I don’t like the saying, “Everything comes out in the wash,” because sometimes it doesn’t. Or sometimes it does, and they’re just like a completely different person. Because after that, my cousin would just sit by the window and wait for fire trucks to go by.
Marcel: Guess what I use to tie my skis to my car.
Dean: What?
Marcel: A hair.
'You know, my cousin fell asleep in a pocket, and that's why I don't like the saying, “Everything comes out in the wash,” because sometimes it doesn't. Or sometimes it does, and they're just like a completely different person.' Click To Tweet
Marcel: Guess what my skis are.
Dean: What?
Marcel: Toe nails from a man.
Dean: What do you do when you get bored?
Marcel: I move around.
Marcel: It’s always what they say on the days when you have a really keen sense of being lost, or losing something, that it often feels like the sun shines the brightest. And then the next day, there was a really sunny day with a good breeze. And I just remember thinking, “If I was somebody else, I would really be enjoying this.”
'Guess why I smile a lot.' - Marcel, 'Why?' - Dean, 'Because it's worth it.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: Goodbye, Mrs. Kim. The time that you ate a pepper flake, and it made you fly into the wall was one of the funniest yet most serious accidents any of us ever witnessed, and you bore it with great grace and bravery.
Marcel: Guess why I smile a lot.
Dean: Why?
Marcel: Because it’s worth it.
Marcel: There’s all these people, and we’re all looking at the same thing, and we’re all doing the same thing. It’s beautiful. And it feels like, I don’t even know how to describe it. It feels like something. It’s really lovely.
Marcel: The other part of it is I think I find my mind wandering a bit just thinking, what would my family think, and really noticing that they’re not here to share it with me.
Marcel: There must be so many others like me. It’s impossible that there wouldn’t be, and not just my family. They’re out there. Somewhere out there.
'It's always what they say on the days when you have a really keen sense of being lost, or losing something, that it often feels like the sun shines the brightest.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: [as the dog is barking] Every time I do this, that dog goes totally crazy. He sees something truly elegant in the sky, and this is his reaction? What a sad type of idiot.
Marcel: Hi, everybody. It’s Marcel from before, and I’m recording this video because I’m looking for my family.
'I don't want to lose everything in the hope of something that's already gone.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: [referring to the shaded drawings of shells] This is what they look like. Right here, and here, and here. I made this just to give you a sense of who to be on the lookout for.
Marcel: You know, Dean, have you ever thought that your life might be a bit less lonely, and a bit more integrated, if you took the time to connect with somebody, and not just make videos about them?
Marcel: And lastly, this picture here shows the car that Mark drove away in. It is a teal Mishibibi.
Dean: Mitsubishi.
Marcel: Mitsi-ibitsy.
'Sometimes it's easiest to rest when you go off by yourself, and you can still hear the noise of the party, and you feel safe knowing that so many people are around that you can have a rest.' - (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: What a weird thing to try to test to see if someone else is into. Like, of course I’m into peace. No, sorry, I’m a real war person. No, war actually. I sign all my personal letters, “War. Let the battle begin. Marcel.”
Dean: [referring to the nail] What’s that for?
Marcel: It’s just in case we get in a fight.
Dean: We’re not going to get in any fights.
Marcel: You said it was dangerous out there.
Dean: It’s dangerous in a different way, so.
Marcel: And you know what else? I should probably bring this match.
Marcel: [to Dean] How many times a day do you throw up in your car?
'I'm not just one separate piece rattling around in this place, but that I'm part of a whole. And I truly enjoy the sound of myself connected to everything.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: [to Dean] Look, you got a lot of smoocheroonies in your future. I can see it now.
Marcel: [referring to his family] There’s so many places that they could be. Do you think it’s impossible?
Dean: I don’t think it’s impossible.
'She has that thing that's like when you're young, you have no fear, because you haven't injured yourself yet, and you don't even know what risk is.' - Marcel (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) Click To Tweet
Marcel: [referring to the dog] He has got to go. I cannot have him here with Connie like this. It’s not that I don’t like Arthur. Stop, Dean. I’m not kidding.
Connie: [to the dog] Stop that.
Marcel: No! Oh, my God! No! No. Off!
Trailer: