'LIFE AQUATIC' NOT DEEP ENOUGH.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic THE LIFE AQUATIC With Steve Zissou,'' which opens in one theater today and goes wide Dec. 25, overflows with all the things you expect from a Wes Anderson movie - and for the first time in his career, that's a mixed blessing mixed blessing Noun an event or situation with both advantages and disadvantages mixed blessing n it's a mixed blessing → tiene su lado bueno y su lado malo . There's an emotionally distant father, a needy son, a large number of oddball characters forming something of a shaggy-dog family, an intense attention to design eccentricities and a heaping avalanche of narrative detail. What's missing is the manic energy of ``Bottle Rocket'' and ``Rushmore,'' and the emotional payoff that arrived so beautifully at the end of Anderson's last movie, ``The Royal Tenenbaums.'' An even bigger problem than the audience's dry eyes A condition in which the eyes feel dry or have a burning or stinging sensation due to an insufficient amount of tears. Dry eyes can be caused by the lack of blinking, which often occurs when users stare at a computer screen. in ``Aquatic's'' final act is the film's failure to clearly delineate between what's real and what's a goof. This uncertain, disconnected tone creates an emotional buffer zone buffer zone n. A neutral area between hostile or belligerent forces that serves to prevent conflict. Noun 1. buffer zone between the audience and the characters, resulting in a movie that's quite often fun to watch but almost impossible to surrender to. The Steve Zissou in the film's title is an underwater explorer/filmmaker in the Jacques Costeau Noun 1. Jacques Costeau - French underwater explorer (born in 1910) Cousteau, Jacques Yves Costeau mode who is emotionally, financially and creatively bankrupt. Zissou (played by Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-winning American comedian and actor. in full-blown melancholy mode) has also apparently lost a longtime colleague to a shark attack and his aristocratic wife (Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston (born July 8, 1951) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actress and former fashion model. Huston won an Oscar for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor. ) to indifference. Not that he seems to really care: When a beautiful journalist (Cate Blanchett Catherine Élise Blanchett (born May 14, 1969), better known as Cate Blanchett, is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning Australian actress. She has also won various awards, most notably including two SAGs and two BAFTAs, making her one of a few actors who won all ) turns up, Zissou sets about seducing her, although his charms, atrophied as they are, prove easy to resist. Zissou is determined to take his motley crew
A motley crew is a cliché for a roughly-organized assembly of characters. and rusting ship out for one final voyage, ostensibly os·ten·si·ble adj. Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity. to find and film the jaguar shark that ate the Team Zissou crew member. Along for the ride is Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), an earnest Southern gentleman who may or may not be Zissou's son. There's also Zissou's loyal engineer, Klaus (Willem Dafoe), who's not at all happy at being supplanted by Ned, as well as a bond company rep (Bud Cort), several exploited interns, a topless script girl and a Brazilian dude (Seu Jorge) who turns up periodically to sing lilting versions of David Bowie songs. It is Zissou's coming to terms with the truth of himself - and the way he has treated those near to him - that provides the film with its central journey. The movie's adventure story and its fantastical marine life - candy-colored creations made by animator Henry Sellick - exist to lighten the mood, although the film's tonal changes are sometimes so abrupt that it's impossible to know exactly when Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach are deadpan and when they are dead serious. Murray, typically an asset, seems wholly miscast mis·cast tr.v. mis·cast, mis·cast·ing, mis·casts 1. To cast in an unsuitable role. 2. To cast (a role, play, or film) inappropriately. here, wallowing in a world-weariness that saps the film of energy. Playing a character similar (too much so) in dramatic function to Gene Hackman's Royal Tenenbaum, Murray fails, when called upon, to deliver the fire that the role - and the movie - so desperately needs. If Anderson was going to call on a familiar face for Zissou, he might just have turned to Hackman again. ``Life Aquatic'' does have an abundance of charms; the gifted Anderson is too inventive and clever to deliver a complete misfire. (Dig the old- school Adidas Zissou shoe line.) But the bulk of the material feels too familiar. Even with marauding ma·raud v. ma·raud·ed, ma·raud·ing, ma·rauds v.intr. To rove and raid in search of plunder. v.tr. To raid or pillage for spoils. pirates, far-flung locales and Bill Murray making like Ah-nold Schwarzenegger, this is a leaky vessel sailing in circles, not the wonderful ``Life'' we were expecting. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU - Two and one half stars (R: language, some drug use, violence, partial nudity) Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe. Director: Wes Anderson. Running time: 1 hr. 59 min. Playing: Pacific's The Grove Stadium 14 in Los Angeles. In wide release Dec. 25. In a nutshell: Wes Anderson delivers what we expect and, for the first time, we are not (completely) entertained. |
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