How Goldie Hawn Found a “Tiny Spirit Guide” in Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

In the time we are living in today, the constant news, social media feeds, and endless other distractions never letting us focus on just one thing, I feel grateful to have come across Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. It actually made me emotional because I believe this is what we need right now in the tumultuous world we are living in. This film is a joyful, welcome breath of fresh air with heartfelt depths about a little shell who gets separated from his family. 

In fact, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On offers resilience and grit with kindness and an open heart. I see Marcel as a tiny spirit guide for navigating these unprecedented times with our eyes and our hearts open. I feel that it is so aligned with our work at MindUP, where we help create more brain fitness and happiness for children around the world. 

It goes without saying that the film is beautiful and made with so much love and care, from Jenny Slate and Isabella Rossellini’s incredible voice work to the tender, hilarious, and heartbreaking writing. 

But it is so much more than a sum of its parts. 

As I watched tiny, vulnerable Marcel navigate his huge world with persistence, optimism, empathy, and lots of imaginative gadgets, I was reminded of pandemic-era birthdays and meetings and New Years on Zoom, laptops with our loved ones’ faces balanced on stacks of books or pots and pans.

Marcel took so much joy in caring for Nana Connie, and she reciprocated with her gentle and wise encouragement and love. I thought about the richness and importance of intergenerational relationships and communities and couldn’t help but think about the importance of bringing purpose, joy, and belonging to our own lives.  

Finally, when Marcel sang through his loneliness and grief in his little warbling voice, then bravely opened his heart again to the possibility of future happiness, friendship, and connection, I wept for the truth of it. 

At its core, the film helps us remember that, by drawing strength from both kindness and community, we can not only thrive today, but also when everything changes again. A heartening thought and something I’ll hold close because, in Nana Connie’s immortal words, it will.

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