Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | I don't get it. | Content
 | The good points are the acting, and the clever humor. The bad points are the plot, the bad attempts at humor, and sea life animation. I don't get why every sea creature was faked. I don't get the movie. I like the director's other works, but this one is pointless and over the top. Bill Murray is really good in this, but it isn't much of a part. Angelica Huston is good too, even though her part doesn't have much in the way of emotion.
The movie doesn't have a point. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | Unique Film Starring the Brilliant Bill Murray | Content
| This movie makes up its own rules and I appreciate it for that, as well as the great performances. Bill Murray has been on a roll lately, and his range is proving to know no bounds. This movie has a very quiet acidic humor and underneath it becomes a thoughtful tale of redemption and rebirth. I recommend this film for people who like pure originality like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | This movie tries so hard to be so different... | Content
| ...it's pathetic. And so of course it becomes so sudden some cult favorite among Murray-fans, and people who love movies I find it hard to believe that they really "get" in the first place. I bet the filmakers have a good laugh now; "Would you believe they actually bought it!"
This movie did not require much from the actors, not in a million years it did. I am a big Murray-fan, and I love a good comedy, but... This was not funny, witty or whatever the average person normally would expect from any filmmaker.
Easy money, Murray? |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | booooooooooooooooooring.... | Content
| This must be the most boring movie I've seen in the last 2 years at least. The only appealing features might be the computer generated aquatic life, Zissou's adidas, the stage-play-like sets and Murray's performance. Apart from that, the characters are uninteresting and almost don't develop during the movie. I never felt emotionally engaged with the them, maybe Wes Anderson is going for that too with the distant, theater like, camera work. The point is that not enough background on the characters is given and the actors always look like they are actually performing (much like in plays) rather than just going on with the plot flow and getting affected by it as they would on their personal life. I guess this kind of acting is engaging for people that are more familiar with theatrical performances, to me it seemed much too distant, unreal, pretentious, unfunny and sterile when shown on screen. How much I like a movie is usually directly proportional on how much I got involved with the characters. The more I care for them the more interesting the plot seems (Lost in Translation: simple storyline, excellent character development). There's a scene where the whole ship crew is in danger of being executed, I couldn't care less if they were shot or not. In fact I was rooting for them to be shot, maybe the new characters would have been more engaging.
Maybe I'm not educated enough to appreciate the nuances of this movie, but ussually I'm left with a feeling after watching something that tells me how much I liked it or if I liked it at all. I didn't feel anything at all with this one, I didn't even hate it which is worse. I couldn't help thinking I was wasting my time with a movie that was just unable to deliver an interesting storyline. However, I really enjoyed the music and would definitely buy the soundtrack. I would even watch the movie again to see if I find anything else to it and to prove that I'm keeping my mind open :-) Hence 2 stars. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | Good Arid Wit | Content
| If you like a measured, dry, sarcastic, and odd comedy, you will enjoy "The Life Aquatic." Bill Murray delivers a delightfully deadpan performance, as do members of an awesome supporting cast including Owen Wilson, in a major role as the possible son of the past-his-prime Jaques Cousteau knock-off Steve Zissou, played by Murray. More subtle in their performances are Willem Dafoe, Angelica Huston, Kate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, and others.
Writer/Director/Producer Wes Anderson has a lot going on in the film, much concealed somehow by the seemingly slow pace, and the deadpan deliveries of the cast, who never once lapse into camp. The pseudo-documentary sequences look delightfully phoney in every way, and the use of an obvious ship cut-away mock-up is no more explained than camera shots of the cameraman, the students from "North Alaska University," or the plot migrating from Italy to Africa to the Philippines in an eyeblink.
Many crictics just didn't pick up on much of this wit, nor the name puns (calling the ship the Belafonte and the harbor Port-au-Patois for instance). The slow pacing may make the mind wander, and then much of the nuance is lost.
For these reasons, those who enjoy the film will want to own the DVD and watch it several times to catch all that is going on.
If you are hooked on action films, special effects, or even cheap sight gags and snotty dialogue, this film isn't for you. I haven't yet decided if it's genius or merely clever in a very, very dry way.
Judge from this and other reviews if you are the type who'd enjoy it before you order. As several reviewers have noted, "it isn't for everyone." |
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