The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

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Yaaron R @KompetenterMedi 2d Not quite my kind of ocean The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou has clever dialogue and strong performances that add warmth to a very stylized film. The problem is that Wes Anderson’s controlled, deadpan, often absurd tone kept me at a distance, so I ended up watching it more than feeling it. The premise is fine, but the story never becomes gripping, and it struggles to build momentum. Visually, it is uneven, and some underwater animation has aged poorly enough to be distracting. I can see why fans love it, and I almost wish it clicked more for me, but it never fully did. See more D3Z 1 Jan 13 Even though The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou boasts an all star casting with the likes of Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Williem Dafoe, this isn't Wes Anderson's best. See more Joshua V Dec 10 The tail end of Wes Anderson prime. It still has interesting characters and real emotion, which is mostly lacking from Wes' more recent films. See more Kyle C. @kylekc Dec 9 The Life Aquatic is Wes Anderson in mid-evolution. You can see flashes of the precision and emotional clarity he’d nail in later films, but here it still feels like he’s testing the waters. The world is delightfully odd, stitched together with charming stop-motion sea creatures and a deadpan sense of humor that leans hard on running gags and eccentric character quirks. The David Bowie soundtrack, especially the Portuguese covers sprinkled throughout, gives the whole thing a warm and slightly melancholy glow. I could listen to Seu Jorge’s voice forever. The crew dynamics are where the movie shines. Klaus steals scenes with his loyalty and emotional volatility, and the ragtag Team Zissou is consistently fun to watch even when the story drifts. The problem is Steve himself. He’s written as this washed-up, self-absorbed blowhard who can’t get out of his own way, and the film is clearly aware of that, but it still makes him tough to latch onto. It’s a bit like watching early The Office: the boss is the weakest link, and the people orbiting him end up doing the heavy lifting. There’s interesting thematic stuff about creative decline and the fear of becoming irrelevant, plus a gentle look at what it means to feel unworthy of your own legend. Those ideas stuck with me more than the emotional beats of the story itself. The film is cute, inventive, and unmistakably Anderson, but it never quite gels for me. I admire the craft and the oddball charm; I just wish I felt more connected to the heart of it. See more Keith M Nov 28 I was at someone else home and they wanted to watch it saying it was one of their favorite movies. Never heard of it. Thirty seconds in I knew it was a WA film because of the quirky premise with ultra quirky characters speaking bad dialogue. I made it 30 mins and bailed. See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jun 19 LOL, grossed $24,000,000.00 in the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Read all reviews

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

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