You might not know him but Marcel the Shell was an internet phenomenon last year when he appeared in a viral video on Youtube. It is a seashell with shoes who apparently escaped sea and lives in a house. Since his appearance last year he has made a name for itself and even appeared in a book for children. Now Marcel is back in a new video to share his views on daily life issues from a seashell’s point of view.
Marcel the Shell has a very cute and fragile voice which sounds like that of a little scared kid. It is actually the voice of Jenny Slate, a comedian who’s worked on Saturday Night Live. The combination of this cute little voice and the randomness of the subjects that he talks about, make for a very funny video. Last year was the premier of the first ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes on’ at the AFI Fest. After that it went on Youtube and has gotten around 13 million views so far. After not having heard from Marcel from a little while, he was back a couple of days ago with a new short movie.
There doesn’t seem to be a real story in the video but it’s just Marcel talking about his life. It is shot in a way that they make it seem like they are making some kind of documentary about Marcel but we only see the parts off camera where Marcel is talking to himself about issues that he is thinking about. The movie is shot using the stop motion style. This might very well be the reason that it takes so long for a new movie to come out since it’s a very time consuming way of filming.
If you think Marcel the Shell limits himself to Youtube, you’re wrong. There is also a children’s book out about him. Plans are to make Marcel even bigger then that. Jenny Slate, the voice of Marcel, has said that she even wants to make a tv show about him. “Our hope is that it will be like The Muppet Show, a place where our comedian friends can come and play around in a world full of shells,” says Slate.
Only future can tell how big Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, will become. Check out his first and second video on Youtube.
