Follows the relationship of a famous oceanographer and his estranged son, while they and the father's motley crew embark on a series of wild adventures.
From Academy Award-nominated writer-director Wes Anderson comes the tale of a man who's having trouble just keeping his head below water. As the leader of Team Zissou - his eponymous oceanographic team - Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is just about washed up; this may be his last expedition and he's looking to cement his place in history. Along for the ride are Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), who may or may not be his son; Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), a pregnant, gum-popping reporter for Oceanographic Explorer magazine; and Eleanor (Anjelica Huston), Steve's deadpan wife, often known as "the brains behind Team Zissou". As they face down everything from mutiny to attack by pirates to a possibly imaginary "jaguar shark", Zissou is forced to recognise that not everything can be planned on one's journey through The Life Aquatic.
Special Agent Matti
I grew up watching the adventures of Jacques Cousteau and his team aboard the Calypso. Heck, I even had some of his books. And I could sing the theme song. The life aquatic with Steve Zissou is, in part, a spoof of Cousteau's TV shows. Unfortunately, it isn't funny. Spoofs are supposed to be funny: everyone knows that.
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach have made a pastiche of The Royal Tenenbaums and Lost in translation, combining the worst aspects of both (cast excepted - there are some good performers in there). The life aquatic is long, slow and boring. There are only five funny bits. The dialogue drags. Give this a miss unless you're a hard-core masochist. Oy.
M (Low level coarse language, low level violence)
118 minutes (1:58 hours)
Film: 24 March 2005
VHS rental: 20 July 2005
DVD retail: 20 July 2005
