Film Review: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

There are some Wes Anderson movies I don't like very much... this is not one of them. Bill Murray is a comedic genius, but we all knew that. He plays Steve Zissou, a Jacques Cousteau-like character who is on a mission to find a mythical shark that killed his best friend while on a dive. He takes along his crew, his estranged son he just met (Owen Wilson), a pregnant journalist (Cate Blanchett), a handful of unpaid interns, and his film crew to make the documentary about his travels. The cast is superb (Willem Dafoe plays a funny little man who thinks of Steve as a father, even though they look the same age, and Jeff Goldblum plays Steve's snobbish competition). The film itself is full of exciting moments, explosions, pirates, stop-motion animation creatures under the sea, and Bill Murray in a speedo. Not as bad as it sounds...



Wes' movies always read like a story book and are executed like a play, this is no exception. They built a ship, and cut it down the middle so they could shoot long continuous shots of Bill and other characters walking from room to room, up and down ladders (from the sauna to the kitchen to the engine room, etc.). It looks fantastic and I bet that would have been fun to work on.

The music is wonderful; it's a mix of songs I've never heard before, and ones I recognize. The imagery is vibrant and full of bold colors, like most of his movies. This is one of my favorites that Wes has made, along with Moonrise Kingdom and The Darjeeling Limited. Give it a watch.