Milkduds

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (8/10)

June 15th, 2005

It’s now official: I’m a big Wes Anderson fan. I don’t think there were many times during this movie in which I wasn’t at least smiling or smirking. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is mostly a spoof of Jacques Cousteau, in which we follow Team Zissou to find the rare jaquar shark that ate one of its members and life-long friend of Steve Zissou, its captain.

Everything about this movie is very original and eccentric - from the screenplay, props, soundtrack, and everything in between. The cast, which is a list of powerhouse actors, were remarkable and funny. I think my favorite was Willem Dafoe as Klaus, one of Steve Zissou’s (Bill Murray) crew members. He has an undying friendship with Steve, even though the feelings aren’t reciprocated evenly. When Steve’s alleged long lost son, Ned (Owen Wilson), comes into the picture, he gets very jealous of Ned, which cracked me up. One of the treasures of the movie’s supporting cast was Pele, played by Seu Jorge. Between scenes, he plays really good acoustic versions of popular David Bowie songs in Portuguese. I didn’t know they were all Bowie until the end of the movie, but I knew I recognized the tunes to most and was able to spot Space Oddity.

I don’t want to give away any more, but it’s stuff like that for which you have to tip your hat to Wes Anderson. His movies aren’t for everyone, but if you like one of his previous ones (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums), you’re bound to love Life Aquatic.

Entry Filed under: Movies