"The Life Aquatic" is a righteous mess of a movie. Less a coherent piece, and more a series of vignettes loosely tied together by a rough sketch of a plot, the film is so hit-and-miss that it is nearly impossible to give a basic opinion on it. In the end though, it holds ones interest, (mostly) justifies its length, and is overall entertaining and charming, almost in spite of itself.
This is certainly the weakest of Anderson's films. Yet, a bad Wes Anderson film is still better than a lot of filmmakers' best films. And "Life Aquatic" isn't by any means BAD. What sets this one apart from his other three gems is that while his films very much create their own world, they contain characters and events that keep them just this side of total inaccessibility. That really isn't the case with "Life Aquatic"... it's a major plunge off the deep end. In addition, the artistry of his trademark melancholic humor is lost here; where his films have previously managed to explore the humorous aspects of the tragic ("Royal Tennenbaums" really perfected this), "Life Aquatic" just alternates between tragedy and comedy without ever finding any real balance or sense of congruency.
The comedy definitely works better than the tragedy in this film. At times, it even seems that incredibly dark plot twists are included only to reach a punch line. For example, a violent pirate attack puts Steve's entire crew in great peril, yet the scene turns outright hilarious when Steve grabs a gun and goes on a rampage shooting all the pirates, all the while wearing a Speedo. Other highlights include the goofy keyboard music piped into the diving helmets, the albino scout dolphins which Steve can't manage to ever get to go scout, and the theft of all the on-board equipment of a colleague. Another humorous element is how unbelievably ridiculous all the computer-generated sea creatures look. Seriously, it looks like they were designed in MS Paint, printed off, then pasted on top of the film. I don't mean this as a criticism... I'm sure the effect is intentional, and it is definitely amusing.
I'll be honest: thematically, I have no clue what is trying to be expressed with this film. Perhaps Anderson means this as a commentary on film-making in general. Maybe knowing there was no real way to follow up a masterpiece like "Tennenbaums" he just decided to make a film so insular that it only has meaning to him. Maybe the entire meaning of life is being revealed in this movie. Regardless what the idea is, I'm missing it. And ultimately, the movie didn't really make me want to care. Many elements of the plot indicate that some profound message is trying to come through: the death of people near and dear to Steve, the wrangling with the idea of a father/son relationship that begins when the son is 30, the mid-life loss of former glories. Yet, the presentation of all these elements is so totally incoherent that it doesn't really encourage the viewer to sort through this mess to discover the meaning.
I also have not figured out exactly how the music choices even remotely fit with the film. Much of the soundtrack consists of glam-era Bowie classics played on acoustic guitar and sung in Portugese... no, I'm not kidding. Why? I have no clue, but it is sort of fun to hear, and a nice testament to the talent of David Bowie that all these melodies are instantly identifiable even in such radically reworked form.
Ultimately, "The Life Aquatic" fails to really accomplish much of anything other than be bizarrely quirky and hilarious, which it is frequently. There's nothing wrong with making a film that is only these things, it's just that much more is clearly intended, and those elements unfortunately fall flat. Nonetheless, it is a quality piece of entertainment, well worth the cost of admission, and is certainly unique. In short, it is neither as good or as bad as anyone says it is.
Score: 6/10
This is certainly the weakest of Anderson's films. Yet, a bad Wes Anderson film is still better than a lot of filmmakers' best films. And "Life Aquatic" isn't by any means BAD. What sets this one apart from his other three gems is that while his films very much create their own world, they contain characters and events that keep them just this side of total inaccessibility. That really isn't the case with "Life Aquatic"... it's a major plunge off the deep end. In addition, the artistry of his trademark melancholic humor is lost here; where his films have previously managed to explore the humorous aspects of the tragic ("Royal Tennenbaums" really perfected this), "Life Aquatic" just alternates between tragedy and comedy without ever finding any real balance or sense of congruency.
The comedy definitely works better than the tragedy in this film. At times, it even seems that incredibly dark plot twists are included only to reach a punch line. For example, a violent pirate attack puts Steve's entire crew in great peril, yet the scene turns outright hilarious when Steve grabs a gun and goes on a rampage shooting all the pirates, all the while wearing a Speedo. Other highlights include the goofy keyboard music piped into the diving helmets, the albino scout dolphins which Steve can't manage to ever get to go scout, and the theft of all the on-board equipment of a colleague. Another humorous element is how unbelievably ridiculous all the computer-generated sea creatures look. Seriously, it looks like they were designed in MS Paint, printed off, then pasted on top of the film. I don't mean this as a criticism... I'm sure the effect is intentional, and it is definitely amusing.
I'll be honest: thematically, I have no clue what is trying to be expressed with this film. Perhaps Anderson means this as a commentary on film-making in general. Maybe knowing there was no real way to follow up a masterpiece like "Tennenbaums" he just decided to make a film so insular that it only has meaning to him. Maybe the entire meaning of life is being revealed in this movie. Regardless what the idea is, I'm missing it. And ultimately, the movie didn't really make me want to care. Many elements of the plot indicate that some profound message is trying to come through: the death of people near and dear to Steve, the wrangling with the idea of a father/son relationship that begins when the son is 30, the mid-life loss of former glories. Yet, the presentation of all these elements is so totally incoherent that it doesn't really encourage the viewer to sort through this mess to discover the meaning.
I also have not figured out exactly how the music choices even remotely fit with the film. Much of the soundtrack consists of glam-era Bowie classics played on acoustic guitar and sung in Portugese... no, I'm not kidding. Why? I have no clue, but it is sort of fun to hear, and a nice testament to the talent of David Bowie that all these melodies are instantly identifiable even in such radically reworked form.
Ultimately, "The Life Aquatic" fails to really accomplish much of anything other than be bizarrely quirky and hilarious, which it is frequently. There's nothing wrong with making a film that is only these things, it's just that much more is clearly intended, and those elements unfortunately fall flat. Nonetheless, it is a quality piece of entertainment, well worth the cost of admission, and is certainly unique. In short, it is neither as good or as bad as anyone says it is.
Score: 6/10