Can a movie thrive entirely on “cute?” That is the question posed by Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, an adorable, yet completely substance-free partially-animated examination of, well, nothing. But damn if that little feller ain’t cute!
Marcel (voice of Jenny Slate) is some sort of tiny, armless, one-eyed mollusk-like creature. This living tchotchke parades around a human house with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and his pet ball of lint. Marcel talks like an inquisitive child. Their little shell game is about making adjustments to being one inch tall in a human-sized house; one is travel by tennis ball. Marcel’s life is covered mockumentary style by the human, Dean (writer/director/inquisitor Dean Fleischer-Camp), renting the house as a b and b.
Being a documentary filmmaker, Dean is curious to explore the world of Marcel and Marcel is only too happy to show the innovations that make a tiny shell adapt to human living. The movie enthusiastically explains how Marcel has managed to make rope out of hair found in the bath tub (ew!) and how the rope is used in conjunction with the sewing machine to jar persimmons (?) out of the tree in the front yard.
What is decidedly not explained is how armless Marcel managed to carry and attach a rope to a tree, or how the li’l fella made the rope in the first place or, you know, how he got upstairs. There’s a lot of Marcel climbing 
walls with the aid of honey, but that appears to be just for fun. It doesn’t really explain how the little fella gets vertical all over the house.
None of that matters, of course. The point is that Marcel is cute. And Marcel is extremely cute. His tennis ball life is cute. His Nana is cute. His obsession with “60 Minutes” is cute. His life is cute. And this is where you get to the improv thing: “yes, and …”
There is no “And.” Not really. There’s a plot that feels like a subplot centered around “Where did Marcel’s people go?” An excellent question … and one that does indeed get answered. But I swear this storyline barely feels like, “yes, and …” stuff. There is not a single ounce of substance in this film; it’s like watching a documentary on “Blue’s Clues” from Blue’s POV. And so I ask again, is Marcel cute enough?
Marcel the Shell … which honestly sounds like the Mob ran out of nicknames…is well-meaning and has a few laughs, but, and I’m being serious here, I honestly think it will bore children. And this is sad to say given that this is just about as wholesome as entertainment gets. I see conservative parents going all-in here – nary a hint of sex or violence; nothing controversial to explain … in fact, you’ll want to discuss this cuddly shell “fish” with any child who questions. Here’s the thing: not many will because beyond Marcel there’s just not much here to capture the attention. I’m told Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is pieced together from small films. That is exactly how this film works. In snippets. In a variety show like SNL between skits. Marcel comes out; it’s cute. Marcel gets a laugh and a half, and then we go back to a sketch where Aidy Bryant plays a mouthy grandmother. That’s how and where this film works. But not on the big screen.
Being a mollusk on land can be Hell
Human life doesn’t serve shellfish well
Inhibited through and through
Perhaps in Marcel II
The creature will come out of its shell
Rated PG, 90 Minutes
Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp
Writer: Dean Fleischer-Camp, Nick Paley, Jenny Slate
Genre: Adorable
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Helicopter parents
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who enjoy depth
