Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)

Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp. Starring Dean Fleischer Camp, Lesley Stahl, (voices) Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini. [PG]

The charming daily exploits of a tiny talking shell named Marcel (with shoes on) are filmed by a documentarian who moved into the Airbnb residence where the little fella had been living, and they’re both surprised when the videos uploaded to YouTube become a viral sensation. Marcel learns, however, that this newfound fame has brought him “an audience, not a community,” and still yearns to reunite with the family he lost when the previous occupants abruptly moved out. A cute and clever movie that may be a little too aimless in its non-plotting—there are numerous micro-surprises, but no big ones on its safe, sweet journey—but it features poignant treasures aplenty, and the stop-motion animation bringing Marcel’s world to life is nearly seamless. The intimate, gauzy camerawork is as much a storyteller as the script, which relies on the shell’s gregarious desire for attention, and although the showy blurs and twee scenery shots will be all-too-familiar to arthouse crowds, the way the lensing illuminates the alternate-perspective theme is quite effective. Slate as Marcel and Rossellini as his dwindling grandma both offer cozy voice performances; the former co-created the character with Camp in a few shorts from the 2010s (they both get co-story and co-screenwriting credits). Conan O’Brien and Brian Williams cameo as themselves. Premiered at Telluride in 2021.

78/100