The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach
Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum

Director Wes Anderson has skillfully carved his own niche in the filmmaking world by establishing a tangible style that no one can replicate (although many are starting to try).From his dazzling debut Bottle Rocket, to the cult classic Rushmore, to the critically acclaimed Royal Tenenbaums, his affinity for deadpan humour, colourful characters, and expressive soundtracks have gained him a large, dedicated following.

However, one of the complaints about Anderson’s movies is that the humour is so dry, it often goes over a lot of people’s heads. Sometimes it feels like he’s trying too hard to be witty, and I have heard this exact criticism of his new film The Life Aquatic (Ebert for instance, gave it a thumbs down for this very reason). But everything I had seen in the trailers looked fantastic so I was more than hopeful that this would be another excellent addition to Anderson’s resume.

Once again he has used a cast he is very familiar with (as are the viewing audiences), and you can sense the camaraderie that exists – everyone is loose and having fun.Some great new faces have been added though, including Willem Dafoe (always underused as a comedic actor in my opinion) and Jeff Goldblum who I personally find hilarious.His strange and exagerrated acting style melds perfectly with Wes Anderson’s wacky world.

Bill Murray is the main focus of this movie as Captain Steve Zissou, an oceanographer who, as the movie opens, is premiering part one of his new documentary. In the documentary he encounters a mythical creature he dubs the “Jaguar Shark”, that kills his best friend Esteban. The general public, however, seems to doubt whether or not the film’s events are real. Frustrated, Zissou vows to track down and kill the Jaguar Shark, but before he can leave on another expedition he meets up with Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), a pilot from Kentucky who claims to be Zissou’s son.

There are a lot of characters in the movie and a handful of interconnecting subplots, but the thing that holds it all together, I think, is Bill Murray’s performance. As a lead he seems to be the embodiment of what Wes Anderson is trying to accomplish with his films.All of Anderson’s movies feature a main character who is completely oblivious and pisses off everyone around him, but ultimately redeems himself through sheer determination. The main characters also have a melancholy tone about them, and if you put all these qualities together you pretty much have an exact description of Bill Murray. Now granted, Murray doesn’t have a shot at winning an Oscar for this movie (compared to Lost In Translation, Zissou’s story is pretty silly) but he still brings a lot of dimensions to the character while never allowing the movie to become too sombre or too ridiculous.

The Life Aquatic soundtrack is another strong one, for the most part keeping things light and energetic.Ex-Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh for the first time contributes some original score that resembles his former band, a bunch of cheesy muzak-style electronic tracks that fit perfectly with the movie’s tone. The Devo song “Gut Feeling” is also used, along with a number of David Bowie covers performed live and in Portuguese by actor Seu Jorge, for no real good reason other than because it’s off-beat and weird.Then there’s the Sigur Ros song “Staralfur”, which I was somewhat surprised to hear, although it is clear that someone was destined to use that for an underwater scene at some point since it is so perfectly suited.Yes, the music plays a large part in shaping the movie’s emotional landscape.

There are some new things that Wes Anderson experiments with in The Life Aquatic, including the addition of stop motion animation by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) for the wildlife, and some over the top action scenes that added a lot of energy to the movie.We are also treated to the most intricately detailed set design yet: an entire ship cross-section was created for the film and it’s at least as impressive as the Tenenbaums house, if not moreso.

In all, I am tempted to say that The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is my favourite Wes Anderson movie to date. I definitely prefer it over the depressing and flat Royal Tenenbaums, although I’m sure there will be many who disagree with that assessment. However, I am looking at the movie strictly as a comedy, as The Life Aquatic also lacks what the Royal Tenenbaums had most — emotional depth. The characters are far too cartoony to take seriously.

The Life Aquatic does appeal perfectly to the hipster crowd that it will attract (Zissou even has his own line of Adidas Gazelle shoes, ’nuff said) and I’m sure it will still baffle a lot of the mainstream viewers that come across it.But how long can Wes Anderson continue to make films like this? Sometimes you want to see a director branch out, but honestly, it would be a real shame to see Anderson do anything but Wes Anderson films. Unfortunately, the longer he doesit the more his films will risk becoming contrived parodies of themselves. I love this movie but I also question whether Wes Anderson has stretched the limit of his unique filmmaking style. Time will tell, I suppose. — Sean