Quick takes on 5 Wes Anderson films

Regular readers of my blog know that I reference Wes Anderson here and there for his quirky style, so it may surprise people to know I’d only previously seen 4 of his films. Time to rectify that and see the rest of them, starting with his first picture, 1996’s Bottle Rocket. Maybe because it is the first, but this is the least “Wes Anderson” Wes Anderson film I’ve seen. The style is there, in a bare-bones manner, but it is missing the quick cuts, the borderline goofy dialogue (though it is still funny), and as seen so often in his films, a narrator for the audience. Even so, I really enjoyed this film a lot. Also the first film for actors Luke and Owen Wilson (Owen co-wrote), it is about a pair of long-time friends who have grand plans of becoming career criminals. Starting small, by robbing one of their mothers (an easy crime, since they can plan ahead on what to steal), they move up to robbing the local book store and other, not-so-successful, heists. Along the way, Luke’s character falls in love with a non-English speaking immigrant housekeeper from Paraguay at their hideout, a cheap motel. It’s a charming picture, with early signs of Anderson’s trademark humor, though in a more subdued format. There are a lot of people who don’t like Anderson’s zany style, and for those, this might be a good compromise, or at the least, a good introduction into his pictures before digging deeper. ★★★½

Next up is Rushmore, released 2 years later. As the film opens to a curtain, we immediately see Anderson further developing his stylistic approach, which would lead to culmination in The Royal Tenenbaums a couple years later (which I will not review, as I’ve seen it before). The movie follows 15-year-old Max Fischer, as he attends a prestigious private school. As the son of a barber, he sticks out amongst the other well-to-do students, and his only friends are a young fellow student in their “little brother/big brother” program, and an older businessman and former student at the school, Blume. Max is involved in a multitude of extracurricular activities, but is a poor student academically, and is about to be expelled. To make matters worse, he has fallen in love with a teacher, Ms Cross, and won’t take her “no” for an answer. When he tries to impress her with a large aquarium built on school grounds without permission, he is finally kicked out of school. Things get worse when Blume and Ms Cross start seeing each other. Along with its catchy soundtrack of hits, this movie feels so incredibly 90’s, and I say that as a sincere compliment. Watching it, I was transported back to the films of my teenage years, and I loved every moment. Witty, funny, and endearing, this one is an instant classic. Jason Schwartzman as Max and Bill Murray as Blume are equally fantastic. ★★★★½

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou followed Tenenbaums in 2004, and it is the first dud of Anderson’s career as far as I can tell. It’s not a bad film, and while it has some funny moments, and has an interesting story, I grew bored long before the end. Zissou (Bill Murray) is a nature and animal documentarian, who’s had a string of poorly received films. His latest, an encounter with the mythical jaguar shark, saw the said monster kill one of long-time friends, and worse still in Zissou’s eyes, he wasn’t able to get it on camera,. The release of the film without footage of the beast brought derision. Zissou wants to set out to get his revenge on the monster and prove the story as true, and he is aided by a team of friends and a couple newcomers: a journalist doing a story on him (Jane, played by Cate Blanchett), and his previously unknown adult son (Ned, portrayed by Owen Wilson). The story has a whole lot of sidetracks, including an attack by pirates, and a storyline involving Zissou’s longtime rival Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), and these twists do not build to the story; instead, they detract from it. While there are lots of funny moments, the film is all over the place, and a bit of a mess at times. Murray, who was so good in Rushmore, plays a reprehensible character who is nearly impossible to like. The film plays up his faults so much, that at the end, I didn’t know if he’d learned a single lesson or not. ★★

In The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson found the perfect setting for the bright colors he’s fond of using in his films: the colorful clothing and landscape of India. It follows three brothers, played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman, who are on a mysterious train journey to an as-yet unknown destination. Their father has recently passed away, and each is dealing with it in his own way. Each also has baggage in their lives, info that comes out slowly over the course of the film. However, there isn’t much of a plot here, at least, not one readily apparent through much of the picture. I don’t mind style over substance as long as I feel like there’s a purpose. Also, it’s one thing if the movie has diverse and/or likable characters; this film has none of that. The three leads are three goofy people only slightly different from each other. And what makes it worse than Life Aquatic, is I didn’t laugh once. The very ending is the only bright spot, it is quite good both literally and figuratively, but it wasn’t enough to save the whole experience for me. ★

Fantastic Mr Fox is an adorable stop-motion film based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl. This film is a hoot, about a fox who is supposed to have given up his chicken stealing days when he started a family, but can’t help himself when the family moves next door to three large farms. He enlists help from a local possum friend, and while their initial heists are successful, they bring down the wrath of the farmers onto the fox’s family, endangering their lives. It also has a bit of a coming-of-age for the fox’s son, who is a misfit in school and struggles with self esteem. There are scary moments for children, but some of the best kids’ films don’t always play it safe, and this really is a movie that everyone can enjoy. Some of the same types of jokes that I didn’t like in Darjeeling come off as hilarious with the stop-motion style; Anderson’s type of humor really lends itself well to animation. Fun characters, dastardly villains, and an engaging story all come together for a wonderfully fun picture. ★★★★