Marie[1][2] is the protagonist of the 2021 Disney animated short Far From the Tree.
Background[]
As a kit, Marie lived with her father Papa who had a scar on his eye. While at the beach, Marie explored of what it is like in the beach while her overprotective father became strict with her to stay inside a small cave while trying to get food some food for her. As Marie curiously explores the beach, Papa began to tell Marie that the beach out about the dangers of the beach, prompting Marie to get back into the cave; however, Marie followed a seagull into the beach and encountered the coyote, which began to attack her, resulting her to get two scars above her nose as her father was so protective of her daughter. During her life, Papa became strict with Marie, warning her for disobeying his order, as the coyote could have killed her, much to Marie feeling sad that she received two scars just like her father did.
As an adult, Marie lives with a raccoon kit named Baby Boy who curiously explores the beach just like Marie did when she was younger. However, Marie became protective of Baby Boy who is curiously exploring the beach, warning her son that she should avoid ending up like what her father did when she was a kit while at the beach. Observing Baby Boy feeling very sad about this, the two reconcile with each other as her son observes the scars on her mother just as the two happily explore the beach together and while running across the beach, she gives her son a conch shell just like what she used to interact with when she was a kit.
Role in the short[]
Marie is introduced in the short where she is first seen following her father Papa where the two see a beach around them. Seeing a pair of crabs fighting over a clam, Marie tries to get the clam but her father prevents her from doing so fearing that the beach around her is very dangerous without her father's safety. She then follows her father into a small cave just as he tells her to stay there while he gets some food for her daughter. As Papa gives Marie a clam, he decides to get another clam for her. However, he only notices Marie left her hiding place as Papa urges her to stay there. While Papa is finding another clam for Marie, she sees a flock of puffins on top of a rock much to her father telling her to wait patiently while she gets her food. However, Marie finds a conch shell from a distance and curiously uses it to which she hears the ocean. However, Papa is very furious with Marie just as she slaps the conch shell off her paws, telling Marie that she must wait very patiently from now on.
Feeling gloomy, Marie holds a piece of the conch shell which her father broke upon smashing it on a rock. Marie then sees a seagull who observes Marie's sadness and upon seeing the seagull, it grabs the piece of the conch from Marie just as Marie chases the seagull into the beach (this time without getting noticed by her father) frolicking past a flock of seagulls and then into a spot with a coyote eating a deer carcass. As the coyote stares at Marie, it furiously chases her and then runs into her (causing Marie to get two scars on her nose) in which as the coyote prepares to eat Marie, Papa counters the coyote's attack and takes her up onto a tree for safety. Papa then angrily scolds Marie that she could have been killed for leaving her hiding place because of the coyote explaining that she has a scar just like Papa has while being attacked by the coyote just as the two sadly observe the beach and heartbroken.
Years later, Marie, now an adult raccoon returns to the beach with a newborn raccoon kit, Baby Boy, and as Marie plans to get a clam for him, she observes Baby Boy trying to open a clam, telling him to wait patiently in the cave while she gets him food. Later as Baby Boy tries to explore the beach upon rushing into a flock of seagulls, Marie scolds him and tells him that he doesn't want to end up like what her father did while encountering the coyote, to which she emotionally observes Baby Boy feeling emotional upon observing his mother. Marie and her son arrive on top of the tree observing the coyote looking for food just as the two reconcile with each other upon noticing Marie having two scars on her believing that the beach isn't dangerous. Having reconciled with each other, Marie observes Baby Boy who is trying to dig to which Marie teaches her how to dig properly and patiently. Marie and Baby Boy run past a flock of puffins in a beach and later gives Baby Boy a conch shell just like what she obtained when she was a kit. While on the tree, Baby Boy tries to eat the conch shell but later figures out that the conch shell is used for hearing the ocean just as Marie and her son happily share an embrace.
Trivia[]
- Although Marie is mostly seen active during the daytime throughout the short, raccoons in real life are usually nocturnal.
- As Far From the Tree was created by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marie and another raccoon were planned to appear in the ending shot of Once Upon A Studio, but ended up being cut because of difficulty in putting their CG models on moving hand drawn trees from Flowers and Trees under time constraints.[3]