Movie Review: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Life Aquatic: Torgo disapproves

This is a shame. First of all, we watched this movie on Saturday. It took me almost a week to write the review. It's been crazy at work. Crazy good, making money, helping kids, saving the world, all that. Except the last thing.

This movie is a shame. It has so much going for it. The cast: Bill Murray! I love Bill Murray. But he's been stuck in this "Oscar funk" for a few years now. I don't get it. Bill Murray's only ever played one character. Some people just thought it deserved awards if it's in a drama, but not an Oscar. Oh well.

Then there's Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Michael Gambon, Jeff Goldblum (whom I like, sort of, but also think only plays one character -- he doesn't 'act,' he's just an odd guy), and Willem Dafoe. I think Willem Dafoe is very cool. He's Jesus! And a really awful Green Goblin. And the vampire movie with John Malkovich was a cool movie, but a bad date movie early in my relationship with M-N.

Then there's Wes Anderson. The first movie of his I saw was Rushmore. I loved it. I then saw Bottle Rocket. I liked it. I think people either overrate or underrate Bottle Rocket. I think it's just good. Then Royal Tennenbaums. I hated it. Too many characters, far too flat and bloated. That's right, flat and bloated.

The Life Aquatic makes many of the same mistakes. Too much going on with too little heart. There's no sensitivity despite the emotional content of the various stories.

When the movie came out, I remember people complaining about the animated fish. They're not really that big of a deal. The waste of talent and the frustration of the promise of the premise are much worse.