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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - Criterion Collection (2004)
Front Cover Actor Back Cover
Bill Murray Steve Zissou
Owen Wilson Ned Plimpton
Cate Blanchett Jane Winslett-Richardson
Anjelica Huston Eleanor Zissou
Bud Cort Bill Ubell
Michael Gambon Oseary Drakoulias
Jeff Goldblum Alistair Hennessey
Noah Taylor Vladimir Wolodarsky
Seu Jorge Pelé dos Santos
Robyn Cohen Anne-Marie Sakowitz
Willem Dafoe Klaus Daimler
Movie Details
Genre Comedy; Adventure
Director Wes Anderson
Producer Barry Mendel; Wes Anderson; Dan Beers
Writer Wes Anderson; Noah Baumbach
Photography Robert D. Yeoman; Stefano Falivene
Musician Ennio Morricone; Mark Mothersbaugh; David Bowie; Iggy Pop; Robert Mothersbaugh; Rod Argent; Jon Thor Birgisson; Agust Aevar Gunnarsson; Georg Holm; Kjartan Sveinisson; Scott Walker; James Williamson
Studio Criterion/Voyager
Language English
Audience Rating R (Restricted)
Running Time 118 mins
Country USA
Color Color
IMDb Rating 7.2
Plot
In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, director Wes Anderson takes his familiar stable of actors on a field trip to a fantasy aquarium, complete with stop-motion, candy-striped crabs and rainbow seahorses. And though Anderson does expand his horizons in terms of retro-special effects and a whimsical use of color, fans will otherwise find themselves in well-charted waters. As The Life Aquatic opens, Zissou (Bill Murray), a self-involved, Jacques Cousteau-like filmmaker, has just released a documentary depicting the death of his best friend Esteban, who was eaten by some sort of sea creature--possibly a jaguar shark. Zissou?s troubles also include his waning popularity with the public, and a nemesis (Jeff Goldblum) who hogs up all the grant money. Hope arrives in the form of Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), an amiable Kentuckian who may be Zissou?s son. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for fatherhood, Zissou welcomes Ned--and Ned in turn saves Zissou?s new documentary (in which he seeks revenge on the jaguar shark) in more ways than one.

One of Wes Anderson?s greatest achievements as a director to date has been launching the autumnal melancholy phase of Bill Murray?s career, starting with Rushmore in 1998, and Murray delivers a similarly comedic yet low-key performance here. Unfortunately, Zissou is one of the few characters in this ensemble to achieve multi-dimensionality. Even co-star Wilson doesn?t get to develop Ned much beyond Noble Southerner, and he ends up seeming more like a prop for illustrating Zissou?s emotional development rather than his own man. The Life Aquatic probably won?t be remembered as a great film, but it is still one that no Anderson (or Murray) fan can afford to miss.--Leah Weathersby
Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 254
Collection Status In Collection
Links Amazon US
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou at Movie Collector Connect
IMDB
Amazon US
Product Details
Format DVD
Region Region 1
Screen Ratio Theatrical Widescreen (2.35:1)
Layers Single Side, Dual Layer
UPC (Barcode) 786936286892
Release Date 5/10/2005
Subtitles English; Dutch; French; Spanish; English (Closed Captioned)
Packaging Keep Case
Audio Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 [English]
DTS 5.1 [English]
Commentary [English]
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1
Extra Features
Color Closed-captioned Widescreen Dolby