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

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

| Apr 1, 2019

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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2019

Orson Welles said a film studio was the best train-set a boy could have, but The Life Aquatic is something else: Anderson uses the sound stages of Cinecittá like a kid playing with toy boats in the bath. He makes one hell of a splash.

| Apr 1, 2019

A lovely, slightly wistful, tragicomedy.

| Apr 1, 2019

Like the jaguar shark, The Life Aquatic is hard to get a hook into.

Full Review | Mar 17, 2014

If you go with it, you'll love the film.

| Mar 17, 2014

Torn between heartbreak and hilarity, I found myself squirming with conflicted delight, braying like a circus clown on the outside while merrily crying away on the inside.

| Mar 17, 2014

The Life Aquatic drifts along at a lazy pace, the occasional encounter with pirates notwithstanding.

| Mar 17, 2014

Noah Baumbach collaborated on the arch script, whose bittersweet weirdness leaves a residue even as the narrative disintegrates.

| Mar 17, 2014

Like the film's fake fish, The Life Aquatic is endlessly fascinating to watch but, if you look closer, there's not much there.

| Mar 17, 2014

Anderson benefits tremendously from the always-engaging production design by Mark Friedberg, a delightful score by former Devo-ian Mark Mothersbaugh, and the always-engaging performances by top-notch actors.

| Original Score: B | Feb 18, 2012

The director magically conjures emotional dividends in the film's invigorating last moments, which wordlessly celebrate an underrated and truly Andersonian virtue: solidarity.

| Jun 24, 2006

The garish, exotic, retro styling is Anderson at his visual best. In terms of character and sensibility, though, this is sadly Anderson at his worst.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Anderson and Baumbach have crafted a world like no other, asking viewers to just sit back and accept all of the weird, deadpan whimsy and esoteric lyricism surrounding them.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 13, 2005

Even when caught in a rut, Anderson's obsessive vision still yields many exhilarating surprises.

| Sep 26, 2005

This take on undersea adventure movies, though studded with amusing bits, feels smug and self-satisfied, as if the quirkiness no longer is merely a by-product of the way Anderson views the world.

| Jul 21, 2005

There's nothing wrong with Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou that a digital insertion of Gene Hackman wouldn't solve.

| May 20, 2005

There's precious little humanity on display and Steve Zissou is nowhere near as compelling a character as his similarly downbeat Bob Harris in Lost In Translation.

| May 13, 2005

Funny, gorgeous, and touching in spurts.

| May 4, 2005