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Notes on The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou 3/14/2005 11:40:11 PM
A capsule review of the movie that explores why it struggled to entertain an audience. I'm a fan of Wes Anderson's work, but I waited to see this because of the mixed reviews. I found the problem to be a lack of dramatic tension in the first quarter of the film. Because there's not much at stake, many scenes just amble along, not particularly funny or dramatic. When the story gets into gear around a quest and Bill Murray's character dealing with issues of fatherhood, the story hits firmer ground and the humor begins to work.
The issue for Murray's character that comes fully on-stage later in the film is that of a man in middle-age finding that what has defined his life is winding down and there's nothing on the horizon. When he meets Owen Wilson, who claims to be his son, he starts to think about family. He's also in a contest with Wilson for the affections of Cate Blanchett, which also kicks the drama up a notch. In the end, Murray's character discovers that his crewmates have always been his family.
Without a firmer introduction of that at the beginning of the story, most of the early scenes are flacid. Murray comes across as trapped in a bubble that doesn't allow him to fully connect to his surroundings or the other characters.
