Four adults rave about a truly unmissable children’s film.

Marcel the shell is love

What to say about this small shell with shoes on? A hero, a friend to all, the voice of a generation and the absolute bastion of goodness and purity and kindness. I initially felt quite embarrassed to be one of the many morose millennials snaking around the block to get into a children’s film, but as the lights went down, the camera pulled focus and we heard little Marcel’s tiny voice once again, all that self-consciousness and cynicism melted away. 

I love everything about it. I loved Marcel’s small smile. I loved how Marcel walked up walls using honey. I loved whenever Marcel sang. I loved the Grandma shell. I loved remembering that the internet is a very stupid place. I loved how it made me think about what shells my own family would be. I loved every moment of his journey juggling gargantuan internet fame with the trappings of being a very small shell wearing shoes, something we can all relate to. 

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is a perfect film (and not just because it is under 98 minutes long). It is sweet without ever being cloying, trades in nostalgia without ever getting into desperado Space Jam (2022) territory, and gently asks us to think about much of our modern online lives without ever feeling like preachy #lookup bullcrap. All while raising awareness for seashell carsickness? I hope the Academy is listening. / Alex Casey

Marcel the shell is community

There are people who have no idea who Marcel is and then there are people who have been obsessed with Marcel for many years. There’s no in-between because it’s impossible to watch Marcel The Shell With Shoes On chat about his life and community without becoming obsessed. I was first obsessed in 2010, as a 16-year-old using the class computers during study break to watch viral videos. There was a group of us that quoted Marcel for the next two years until we left school and went to different universities. When a Marcel book was published at the end of 2011, I bought it for my friend despite not having caught up with her in over six months (a lifetime when you’ve just left school). Marcel connects people like that.

Marcel has been out of the public consciousness for a while now, but it’s always a joy to find someone else in the shell-obsessed community, whether it’s a colleague, neighbour or potential life partner. Until this year there wasn’t really an easy way to ask “have you seen that video from 2010 about the shell?” But now you can and it’s a pure human litmus test. If they have seen it and love Marcel, they pass. If they haven’t seen it, they have a chance to rectify the situation. If they have and didn’t like it or find Marcel to be the most wholesome being on this cursed planet, leave immediately.

In April, I shared the trailer to the movie on my Instagram because I was of course very excited. I was also curious to find out who among my followers was in the community. And by that I mean I was very curious to find out where my relatively new girlfriend stood. She replied immediately:

I actually gave myself the ick at the thought of sharing that screenshot but Marcel would have wanted it included.

Oh yeah, the movie’s heartwarming and heartbreaking and I would recommend it to any person or shell. / Madeleine Chapman

Marcel the shell is a tearjerker

I was not prepared for the cinematic journey I was going to go on with Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. I laughed, I cried. I laughed while crying, I cried while laughing. At one point, according to my significant other, I did one of those sniffle-cries like an old person at the opera. If I’d had a tissue, I’d have dabbed away a single tear.

It’s pretty standard these days for children’s films to be overloaded with hashtag “themes” that can be taken out of the cinema and into everyday life. In that sense, Marcel is no different to your Pixar or Disney fare. But I found Marcel’s journey of belonging and the need to belong more than just relatable, but compelling. I am not a shell, but just like a shell I sympathise with the need for family, friendship and companionship. But what sets Marcel even further above your usual kid-flick is the intelligent humour and compassion with which this story of life and death is told.

There is also a tone-perfect subplot about current affairs show 60 Minutes which reminded me of the importance of investigative journalism. Not the most important theme, sure, but a nice touch. 

Until now, I thought Paddington and Paddington 2 were the pinnacle of the wholesome yet heartbreaking genre. Films ostensibly made with children in mind but somehow very much for adults. Marcel is now the genre’s champ. It is, quite simply, a perfect movie. / Stewart Sowman-Lund

Marcel the shell is my idol

It’s been over a decade since I first came across Marcel – the charming anthropomorphic shell with one singular googly-eye and shoes on – in the form of a viral YouTube video. Back then, friends and I would huddle around a computer screen at lunchtime waiting eagerly for a minutes-long video of the very cute and very self-assured little shell to load on the screen. Giggle and repeat. Giggle and repeat.

On arrival at the cinema over the weekend I wondered how the twee, bumbling humour of that era would translate to a feature-length film, in 2022 nonetheless. But after 98-minutes of jostling between laughter and tears, I came out the other side believing with full conviction that Marcel the Shell is exactly what the world needs right now.

Despite being a relatively short feature-film, that quite-literally zooms in on the Lilliputian world of Marcel and his grandmother Connie – the entire tale is abound with lessons. On community, on internet culture, on loss. 

We don’t often see the relationship between grandparent and grandchild granted a focussed place on the big screen, let alone a portrayal filled with so much sweetness. Among the chaos inflicted upon the pair by the enormous world of humans around them, they find creativity, tenderness, humour and respect for each other. But never without a sense of curiosity for how they fit into everything else around them. 

In between crying and cackling, I found myself desperately trying to commit Marcel’s perceptive quips (“Guess why I smile a lot. Uh, cause it’s worth it”) or the succinct roasts he hurls at dogs (“What a sad type of idiot”) to memory. Partially, because these little shells are my idols, but mostly because it’s a film you want to carry. Marcel the Shell proves that it’s through the littlest things that we find the biggest connection. / Charlotte Muru-Lanning

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is screening as a part of Whānau Mārama (New Zealand International Film Festival). Click here for the full programme.