“It’s like a movie but nobody has any lines and nobody even knows what it is while they’re making it.”

- Marcel (Describing a documentary film)

Marcel is one smart shell.

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” is the most unusual feature film you’ll see this year, and possibly in any year.

Look for an Oscar nomination in the animation feature film category.

Just how the film was made is one of its many marvels. The film is brilliant in concept and execution. The film will become a classic of cinema.

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” is a triumph of stop-motion animation. It’s a combination of stop-motion and live-action.

Stop-motion animation is the film-making technique whereby an object or figurine (think Gumby) is photographed, repositioned, photographed and so forth. It’s filmed frame by frame. It’s painstaking and time-consuming. “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” was seven years in the making.

The film is fascinating, charming, funny and thought-provoking. It’s a marvelous “Shell” game. You will look at your life and the world a little differently after you see the film.

It’s about, yes, a shell, a hermit crab shell, with one eye, and pink tennis shoes. The shell appears to be approximately the size of a silver dollar. The shell talks (voiced by Jenny Slate, who co-wrote the story and screenplay).

Marcel the Shell interacts and talks with a film-maker, who is staying at an Airbnb. Marcel lives there, as does his friend Alan, a piece of lint.

The film-maker, Dean (Dean Fleischer-Camp, who co-wrote the story and screenplay), decides to make a documentary film about Marcel.

Marcel has a grandmother, Connie (voiced by Isabella Rossellini), who lives there and tends a garden. We hear about her concerns and those of Marcel and Marcel’s concerns about his grandmother.

As part of the film’s, to quote a cliche, meta concept, the film-maker posts his interviews with Marcel on YouTube. They go viral. Soon, Marcel is trending.

Soon, “60 Minutes” comes knocking and none other than Lesley Stahl (the real Lesley Stahl is in the film) interviews Marcel for the Sunday night interview TV show.

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” began as a short film created by Slate and Fleischer-Camp posted on YouTube in 2010. It garnered 32 million views. Two subsequent “Marcel” videos (2011) had 11.3 million and (2014) 4.6 million views, respectively. Slate and Fleischer-Camp have written two “Marcel” picture books.

At the center of the “Marcel” is Jenny Slate (“Everything Everywhere All At Once,” 2022; “Venom,” 2018; “Obvious Child,” 2014; TV’s “The Great North,” 2021-22), voicing Marcel. It’s kind of a kid’s nasal garble with awkward emphasis and pauses. Marcel’s stream-of-consciousness dialogue is compelling, requiring you to have your listening ears on.

Fleischer-Camp (in his feature film directorial debut) directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Nick Paley (director, TV’s “Hack Into Broad City,” 2018-19) and Slate from a story he wrote with Elisabeth Holm (story, “Obvious Child”), Paley and Slate.

The most amazing thing about “Marcel” is the cinematography. Hand-held camera work, soft focus, back-lighting and a lovely color palette is accomplished by Director of Photography Bianca Cline.

The filming is meticulous by Stop-Motion Director of Photography Eric Adkin. Editing is by Fleischer-Camp and Paley. The film is deserving of Oscar technical category nominations.

The world of “Marcel” is miniaturist with a Zen-like sparseness, stillness and gentleness in the Production Design by Liz Toonkel, Art Direction by Jake Tremblay and Set Decoration by Ahmed Delgado.

Putting a polish on the film, creating tension and adding soothing moments is the soundtrack by Disasterpeace (stage name of Richard Vreeland, composer, video games, “Apoc Wars,” 2013; web series, “Passcode: Soul of the Traveler,” 2010, and films, “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” 2022; “It Follows,” 2014).

At the conclusion of “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” you sit there and realize, “I’ve just spent one hour and 30 minutes watching a movie about a crab shell.”

It’s time well-spent. The film stops motion, but not emotions.

The film deserves repeated viewings. It’s a film that can be enjoyed by nearly the entire family.

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,”

MPAA rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested: Some material may not be suitable for children.) for some suggestive material and thematic elements; Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Family; Run time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. Distributed by A24.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

During the end credits for “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” there’s a scene in Dean’s new apartment.

At The Movies:

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” was seen in Theatre514, Civic Theatre of Allentown. It’s a cozy theater, akin to being in a Hollywood studio screening room.

Theatrical Domestic Movie Box Office,

Aug. 12-14: “Bullet Train” continued its station at No. 1 two weeks in a row, $13.4 million, 4,357 theaters, $54.4 million, two weeks.

2. “DC League of Super-Pets” continued in place, $7.1 million, 3,803 theaters, $58.3 million, three weeks. 3. “Top Gun: Maverick” in Imax re-release moved up three places, $7.1 million, 3,181 theaters, $673.8 million, 12 weeks. 4. “Thor: Love and Thunder” stayed in place, $5.3 million, 3,175 theaters, $325.3 million, six weeks. 5. “Nope” dropped two places, $5.3 million, 2,760 theaters, $107,5 million, four weeks. 6. “Minions: The Rise of Gru” dropped one place, $4.8 million, 3,068 theaters. $343.7 million, seven weeks. 7. “Where the Crawdads Sing,” $3.9 million, 2,916 theaters, $72.1 million, five weeks. 8. “Bodies Bodies Bodies” moved up seven places, $3.2 million, 1,290 theaters, $3.5 million, two weeks. 9. “Elvis” stayed in place, $2.5 million, 2,211 theaters, $141.2 million, eight weeks. 10. “Fall,” opening, $2.5 million, 1,548 theaters. 21. ”Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” dropped seven places, $163,645, 276 theaters, $5.3 million, eight weeks.

Box office information from Box Office Mojo as of Aug. 14 is subject to change.

Unreel,

Aug. 19:

“The Princess,”

Ed Perkins directs the documentary film about Princess Diana. It’s told through archival footage.

“Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero,”

PG-13: Tetsuro Kodama directs the voice talents of Masako Nozawa, Toshio Furukawa and Yûko Minaguchi and the Animation in the Action Adventure film. The Red Ribbon Army from Goku’s past is back with two new androids to challenge him.

“Beast,”

R: Baltasar Kormákur directs Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley and Leah Jeffries in the Adventure Drama. A father and his two teenage daughters are hunted by a lion.

“The Immaculate Room,”

R: Mukunda Michael Dewil directs Emile Hirsch, Kate Bosworth and Ashley Greene in the Drama Thriller. A young couple competes to win $5 million if they can live for one month in a room.

“The Legend of Molly Johnson,”

No MPAA rating: Leah Purcell directs Rob Collins, Sam Reid and herself in the History Drama Thriller. A lonely frontier woman raises her children and runs the farm when her husband is away.

Movie opening dates from Internet Movie Database as of Aug. 14 is subject to change.

Five Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes