The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

That was an excellent one.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Something I've noticed in a couple WA movies is a somewhat unusual use of sudden jump cuts. One example is towards the beginning of The Life Aquatic, when Steve and Ned are at a restaurant and Steve goes to drink his wine, the camera jumps forward a few feet and skips forward a fraction of a second. Another example is in Rushmore when Max and Herman are on the elevator in the hospital, Herman sits a bouquet of flowers on the cart behind him. When he reaches to grab them the camera moves forward slightly and skips a fraction of a second. I'm just curious what the purpose of these cuts are. I'm sure there are more examples in his other movies, but these are the only two I've noticed.TLDR curious about the purpose of a couple of odd cuts in Rushmore and The Life Aquatic.

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerFirst off, Wes Anderson has once again created a quirky, colorful, and touching film. The story is at times extremely hilarious and very touching. The ending is heartfelt and feel good. The plot is easy to follow and all the characters are easily distinguishable from each other because of their vibrant personalities.The acting is great. Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Defoe, and Jeff Goldblum steal the show. They are all hilarious and add so much to the story. Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Michael Gambon, Noah Taylor, Bud Cort, Seu Jorge, Robyn Cohen, Waris Ahluwalia, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Seymour Cassel all player various crew members that are memorable and funny.The pacing is a little slow and the runtime is very overlong. Also, the CGI is a little weird.The crew are the best part of the film because they are all unique and very funny in their own way. The orange hat and blue speedo are legendary.Pros: Hilarious and touching story, great characters, good acting, the crew, and the legendary hat and blue speedoCons: Some weird CGI, slow pacing, and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 7.2

If you view this movie after reading Slaughterhouse 5, it makes sense. Steve Zissou is suffering from a PTSD episode from the death of his friend due to a shark attack. (As to Slaughterhouse 5, don't watch the movie, read the book.) As Steve travels through his life he encounters parts he regrets. Steve Zissou drives away the pirates using a Glock and more bullets than can be counted. His crew is able to overcome an entrenched group of pirates with guns. His academic enemy is wounded in the fire fight, appears to be dead and then is up and walking around. The son he never had shows up magically wearing weird clothing. He is able to put all of the interns, dead people into a magic submarine and find the magical killer shark, but not destroy it. Sounds like a PTSD fantasy to me.

Life Aquatic is a beautifully composed film with a great story. The artistic value is very unique. Like all Wes Anderson movies, it has colors that really pop, very symmetrical shots, and amazing stop motion scenes. The movie was super entertaining and funny. For educational value, you wont learn anything about boats or sea junk, but you watch a guy give up his life to work on a ship and travel the sea. And i think the lesson there is that in life, sometimes you just have to give up all your stuff and travel the sea. To be happy you cant always play it safe. On the surface, the movie is about claiming revenge on the jaguar shark that ate Esteban. But the real story is about a dad connecting with his son and learning to care about others. Pretty awesome movie.