“Adorable,” “Delightful,” “Quirky” and “Winsome.”  Who could bear to miss getting acquainted with Marcel? The Harbor Theater and Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library  are partnering to bring Marcel home to area families in a very special event, sponsored by the Boothbay Harbor Waterfront Preservation/Eastside Waterfront Park.

On Thursday, Sept. 1, at 4 p.m., the film “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” will run at a special time with discount tickets for families. The $20 family ticket includes admission for a family of up to 5, a free extra large popcorn to share, a shell pet for each child, and a drawing for some terrific door prizes.

The shell pets were created by BHML’s Children's Coordinator Jen Betts. They are available for adoption at the library and their "Shell-ter" will be at the Marcel the Shell movie event for on-site adoptions.

Raffle prizes will include a Marcel stuffed animal and the hit children's book "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Things About Me." The raffle will also include a copy of "Little Weirds," a book of essays for adults written by actress and comedian Jenny Slate, the voice of Marcel the Shell. The Marcel stuffed toy and books are all courtesy of BHML. Harbor Theater is throwing in a Marcel movie poster and three Marcel 8x10 photos for the drawing.

If you haven’t yet read the children’s book or heard about the film, it is interesting to know a little of their background. Both the book and feature film are expanded versions of a popular Internet three-and-a-half minute Stop Motion video made by Jenny Slate, an actress, and Fleischer-Camp, a director, that went viral in 2010. The children’s picture book “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: Things About Me” (2011) features luminous oil painting illustrations by Amy Lind. Jenny Slate’s adult book “Little Weirds” (2019) is a collection of essays that “tend toward the short, casual, and mildly silly, and her language strikes a balance between oddly flat statements and endearingly specific word choices enlivened by the occasional Seussian rhyme . . .” (NPR, Lily Meyer).

Of the film, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Carla Renata of RogerEbert.com says, it “will make your spirit soar and remind you to enjoy those you love, inhale a bit of fresh air, and respect the earth every second as though it were your very first time. It's a reminder to embrace all the stages of grief and see our dark chapters as changes that somehow make us better on the other side.”

Family tickets are available at the door, starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1. To purchase tickets in advance online, visit boothbaycinema.org, or through Boothbay Harbor Memorial library at bbhlibrary.org. You can also find the link on both organizations’ Facebook pages. See you at the movies!