The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

An indescribably “weird" movie. What ever I might write about either isn’t true or doesn’t reflect the facts. I might use words like melancholic, nostalgic, sad etc., but the end result isn’t like that at all. It’s a picture that you’ll find boring, unless you happen to be in the right mood for it, in which case you’ll be greatly entertained. I don’t dare to say whether it’s a comedy, a parody, a homage to Cousteau or a serious drama. But it certainly has a whole lotta love in it and a bit of everything else. It even has some of Karel Zeman’s movies in it too. I suppose that this is sort of how, as a child, Wes Anderson imagined the work of an oceanographer and here he is simply sharing his vision with us. (21/03/2005)

A weird film that perhaps it’s impossible to assign a key genre subtext to. In terms of comedy, it works quite well and the uncharacteristically wacky humour manages to amuse in places. On the adventure side, however, it's not that good, the story struggles to gain speed and I found the main storyline, with all due respect to the original premise, rather weak and uninteresting. But what's really brilliant about the film are the performances, in particular, the trio Murray, Anjelica Huston and Willem Dafoe are perfect. Overall, slightly above average, and next time I wish Wes Anderson would push the envelope a bit more in terms of humour and emotion. (26/07/2011)

Wes Anderson is truly a unique filmmaker who doesn't appeal to everyone. Not everyone will appreciate his film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," which is simply strange. You can say whatever you want, but if you don't like it right away, you won't like it at all. "The Life Aquatic" is a unique film that tries to somewhat follow in the tradition of Jacques Cousteau and introduces us to people who sail on a boat and explore the underwater world. There is still so much there that we don't know. But it's not actually conceived as a documentary film, as discovering new species, although that cannot be avoided either. Here, Anderson presents his playfulness when he shows us completely new species, moreover in beautiful animated sequences. These are interesting leaps that please. At first glance, it might seem that the story will revolve around the attempt to catch the shark that ate one crew member. But that's not the main theme of the film either. So, could it be about the relationship between Steve Zissou and his newly found son? Even this is not the most important aspect. The film is actually about people and their relationships, at times you're not sure if it's all just one big absurd drama. Absurd elements are definitely present, which for me is always a few extra points in evaluation. However, the film lacks narrative consistency. It really feels like we're watching a few days with the crew. Someone edited the material, cut out a lot of boring parts, left out a bit of uninteresting content, but as a whole, it gives us a picture of strange people who may not be that different from actual people. The film is full of love, hope, humor, and a desire to live life on one's own terms. The film is not completely optimistic, but Bill Murray delivers one of his great performances once again. Everyone else supports him excellently. A good film, but definitely not for everyone. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/11/prada-tlumocnice-sveraci-kazajka.html (02/03/2013)

I can’t say that this film could ever win a five-star rating from me, but on the other hand, I have to admit that Wes Anderson has an absolutely great style of lifting the viewer’s mood; both when it comes to the characters and when it comes to the storytelling – it seems normal at first, but in reality, it’s one big mess. Which is actually really nice. Everybody who moves a finger in that movie is in a great mood. And apart from that, Wes has an amazing imagination that – combined with the motion picture and an appropriate choice of music – creates an incredible experience. But I wasn’t really able to ride the comedy wave of this movie. But that doesn’t change the fact that I felt really nice after watching it. (14/03/2014)

One must admire Anderson, because he managed to keep this strange patchwork of pseudo-documentary, infantile D adventure and intimate drama together with the ease of a master. This is greatly aided by the music, especially the postmodern remakes of David Bowie into Portuguese and intimate songwriting, which have a special rhythmic impact on the overall somewhat unbalanced tempo of the film thanks to the regular cuts to musician Seu Jorge. An indispensable specificity of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is the stylized camera, especially the composition of images, which often resembles a group photo from a traveler's diary (or scenes from children's hero games – as you can see, they are close to each other). However, the main driving aspect of the film is undoubtedly the acting performances (I have to mention the phenomenal Willem Dafoe and especially Bill Murray, who is at the imaginary peak of his powers!), thanks to which one overcomes the vertigo of confusion in the opening parts of the film and, with a little luck, finds the path to Steve Zissou's bizarre aquarium... The risk of him running out of oxygen in the depths is still present, but despite this fact, this film is worth betting on. (19/03/2005)