{"id":108235,"date":"2022-06-24T11:11:59","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T05:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/jenny-slate-is-the-voice-of-a-cinematic-hug\/"},"modified":"2022-06-24T11:11:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T05:41:59","slug":"jenny-slate-is-the-voice-of-a-cinematic-hug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/jenny-slate-is-the-voice-of-a-cinematic-hug\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenny Slate Is the Voice of a Cinematic Hug"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This review of \u201cMarcel the Shell With Shoes On\u201d was first published Sept. 5, 2021, after its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.<\/em><\/p>\n

After so much bad news over the past \u2013 oh, it\u2019s been awhile \u2013 many viewers might be in the mood for entertainment that\u2019s a little sweeter, gentler and kinder. Enter the adorable and effortlessly charming Marcel the Shell (Jenny Slate), a one-eyed, child-like anthropomorphic shell living in an Airbnb with his grandmother, Connie (Isabella Rossellini). <\/p>\n

They are the only two shells remaining in the home after a devastating upheaval tore their community away from them when the couple (Rosa Salazar and Thomas Mann) who lived at the house split up, accidentally carrying off Marcel\u2019s family and friends. But these two tiny creatures have since learned to survive, making the best of their microscopic world through creative means. <\/p>\n

Many wonders and punchlines stem from their makeshift solutions, and it never seems to grow old in \u201cMarcel the Shell With Shoes On.\u201d One of the many Airbnb renters that has stopped at Marcel\u2019s home is a recently separated filmmaker, played by the movie\u2019s real director, Dean Fleischer-Camp. As he begins to record Marcel\u2019s world, the filmmaker introduces Marcel to an online audience, and he quickly amasses a following. Using his viral fame for good, Marcel uses his platform to find his family and reunite with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018King<\/p><\/div>\n

Fleischer-Camp \u2013 who worked on the story with Slate, Nick Paley and Elisabeth Holm \u2013 expands the world first established in his three earlier shorts featuring Marcel the Shell with a feature-length story that\u2019s deeper than the premise may appear. On one level, there\u2019s a character development challenge where the filmmakers had to create solutions to problems, like how does a one-inch tall shell get the oranges off of trees? The next hurdle is how the filmmakers use the stop-motion animation process to pull off the visual illusions, like making a tiny shell walk and change its environment. But how does one use a tiny shell to discuss grief, loneliness and loss? <\/p>\n

Thankfully, the team behind \u201cMarcel the Shell with the Shoes On\u201d meets these questions with an open heart and a childlike sense of play. \u200b\u200bDisasterpeace\u2019s music bounces along with Marcel\u2019s miniscule steps with an acute sense of joy and sadness. Fleischer-Camp and cinematographers Eric Adkins and Bianca Cline recreate a low budget documentary-style type of filmmaking \u2014 think out-of-focus shots, or ones that focus while an interview is being conducted. It\u2019s a bit meta watching the movie version of Fleischer-Camp making the project by himself as the real-life version makes the movie with a bigger team of collaborators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the soul of our star shell, Slate gives a wonderful performance, voicing Marcel\u2019s nonstop questions, both poignant and inane, with a genuine sense of curiosity. It\u2019s the kind of heartfelt performance that brings to mind a Pixar movie. Marcel is peppy when showing Fleischer-Camp\u2019s camera around the house, protective when it comes to Connie\u2019s well-being and rarely frustrated enough to deliver a cutting remark to guilt Fleischer-Camp into helping him. As Connie, Rossellini is a calming force in Marcel\u2019s life; her voice is reassuring and knowing. Even though she can be forgetful, she encourages Marcel to pursue the opportunities that could lead them to reunite with their family.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018Citizen<\/p><\/div>\n

How does a talking one-eyed shell hold an audience\u2019s attention for a feature-length film? Turns out, humanizing Marcel is more than just giving him quippy lines and silly contraptions for him to get food. It\u2019s about having him go through human experiences like loss and loneliness. Those moments got as big reactions from the festival crowd as any punchline, including some sniffles and tears. When Slate\u2019s childlike character grapples with that type of pain for the first time, the result is effectively heartbreaking. <\/p>\n

But by the film\u2019s end, it feels like the cinematic equivalent of a hug. It\u2019s comforting and cheerful because even the saddest of moments don\u2019t last long. There are always more adventures, more jokes and more songs to sing for little Marcel the Shell and his newfound audience: us.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarcel the Shell With Shoes On\u201d opens Friday in U.S. theaters.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This review of \u201cMarcel the Shell With Shoes On\u201d was first published Sept. 5, 2021, after its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. After so much bad news over the past \u2013 oh, it\u2019s been awhile \u2013 many viewers might be in the mood for entertainment that\u2019s a little sweeter, gentler and kinder. Enter the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":108236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,3,105,106],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1656049320_Jenny-Slate-Is-the-Voice-of-a-Cinematic-Hug.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}