The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

R

Released Dec 25, 2004

1 hr. 58 min.

Comedy

List

57%

227 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned (Owen Wilson), a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane (Cate Blanchett), a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor (Anjelica Huston).

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Critics Consensus

Much like the titular oceanographer, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou's overt irony may come off as smug and artificial -- but for fans of Wes Anderson's unique brand of whimsy it might be worth the dive.

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Teddy B

The aspect of this film that really drags the quality of the experience down is that Wes Anderson's certain mannerisms form an emotional detachment between the audience and the titular character.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

Lorenz L

As with all Wes Anderson films, you are not going to take-in everything on a mere one (or two) screening(s). I saw this before I became a die-hard Anderson fan, but was sufficiently attracted to parts of it to watch it again, and started to fall under its spell. I then got the Criterion Collection edition and totally fell in love with it. As usual, there are so many layers! It just takes a while to process them all. And then there are individual performances that are just unforgettable (hello, Willem Dafoe!). Finally: the music! It may not be to everybody's taste, but I find the songs of David Bowie as sung in Portuguese and played on acoustic guitar by cast member Seu Jorge to be among the most seductive renditions of anything ever (I got the album of Jorge Sings Bowie, in addition to the film's soundtrack album). It deserves another look. I have recently seen "Asteroid City" four times, and am still discovering new meaningful things on each watch.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/12/23

Full Review

Shawn L

This is one of my favorite movies because of its refusal to be pinned down to any neat, singular narratives. It's partly about old age and regret, but also about fixing things that end up being different, not lost. Murphy's character generates such magnetism that you start to believe that this crew, fully aware of his foibles, is passionately addicted to Zissous' version of the world. Even the injured intern sticks around after the "rational" interns abandon ship. Isn't that what life's about, just looking for something to believe in?

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/07/23

Full Review

Honest D

Best movie of all time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/20/24

Full Review

Michael V

THE DEEPER YOU GO, THE WEIRDER LIFE GETS. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a 2004 American adventure comedy-drama film directed by Anderson 🤿 Meh, it passed the time. Sort of. 😕 I enjoyed the beginning of this movie, but it lost its way and was too long… Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

09/12/23

Full Review

James B

soooo funny bill murray and owen wilson are great in this film i liked the plot and the visuals.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/15/23

Full Review

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Wes Anderson

Director

Bill Murray

Steve Zissou

Owen Wilson

Ned Plimpton

Cate Blanchett

Jane Winslett-Richardson

Anjelica Huston

Eleanor Zissou

Willem Dafoe

Klaus Daimler

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Sukhdev Sandhu

Daily Telegraph (UK)

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is so knowing and so arch: the first part striving for a faux-grandiosity that the second part tries to undercut by its pseudo-geekiness... but ends up being plain annoying.

Apr 1, 2019

Full Review

Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

How much of this will work for you depends on your appetite for the picturesquely dysfunctional.

Apr 1, 2019

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

It is such a brilliant idea, and everything looks so great, especially the way the film is constructed on Cousteau-esque lines, with the calm deliberation of a nature documentary from a more innocent age.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 1, 2019

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

While it would be nice to be able to laugh a little more (acoustic-guitar versions of David Bowie classics sung in Portuguese only go so far), the film delivers a metaphor for the death of romantic and robust boyhood imagination with great subtlety.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 9, 2023

Full Review

Cory Woodroof

For the Win (USA Today)

While most Anderson detractors point to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as why they don’t like the filmmaker, even arguably his weakest film is still pretty outstanding.

Jun 28, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It may be impossible to love The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, but it's remarkably easy to drown in its sea of eccentricity.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 8, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned (Owen Wilson), a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane (Cate Blanchett), a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor (Anjelica Huston).

Director: Wes Anderson
Executive Producer: Rudd Simmons
Screenwriter: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co: Touchstone Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions
Rating: R (Partial Nudity|Language|Some Drug Use|Violence)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $24.0M
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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