film review/analysis
written by: gavin miller
Direction: 8
Score: 9
Visuals: 8
Cinematography: 8
Script: 7
Story/plot: 8
Action/Dialog: 8
Characters: 8
Overall (how well it comes together): 7
final percent: 79%
Review: Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors, his films are beautifully shot and great fun. "Life Aquatic" is certainly no exception to the Anderson style, though I do believe, at the moment it's his most flawed work. That being said, it's definitely still worth watching for the exciting originality of the whole thing and the production design. As far as the visual aspect of the movie, it's zanny and coloful. The decision to use claymation effects (done by Henry Selick!) for the underwater scenes and creatures is certainly interesting, and though some good real-life underwater scenes would have been fantastic, I think the claymation adds an extra punch of uniqueness to the movie. As always with Anderson movies, the score is something to marvel, it's definitely a major ingredient of this deliciously odd and quirky flick. As I mentioned earlier, the movie is quite flawed. For one, there's too many characters. It's not that they're bad characters, but with so many A-list actors, it would have been nice for some of them to just have cameos instead of a full role, then the movie could have spent more time on important things instead of running itself into the ground with more characters and subplots than unnecessary. Also, at times I felt that the movie wasn't sure what it wanted to be; comedy, action, adventure, father-son story, revenge story, etc - some of these elements work nicely together, but at times some themes presented here just seem out of place. There are many things to praise this movie for too though. I liked the main character, Steve Zissou. Bill Murray did an amazing job, and I was actually surprised how much depth the character had. Also, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Houston, Jeff Goldblum and William Dafoe (just to name a few) all gave memorable and funny performances. My favorite thing about this movie is the end scene. It was sweet, and tied the film together really nicely with the characters, music, and slow-motion (Wes Anderson is the only director who can use slow-motion expertly in his movies!). Anyway, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a mess, but it's a beautiful mess, and a great ride. It's not Anderson's best movie, but I would recommend it nonetheless. I say check it out.
