The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Director:

Wes Anderson

Writers (WGA):

Wes Anderson (written by) &
Noah Baumbach (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

With a plan to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner, oceanographer Steve Zissou rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son.

Plot Keywords:

Box Office Flop | U Boat | Intern | Tragic Hero | Surreal

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Bill Murray	...	Steve Zissou
Owen Wilson	...	Ned Plimpton
Cate Blanchett	...	Jane Winslett-Richardson
Anjelica Huston	...	Eleanor Zissou
Willem Dafoe	...	Klaus Daimler
Jeff Goldblum	...	Alistair Hennessey
Michael Gambon	...	Oseary Drakoulias
Noah Taylor	...	Vladimir Wolodarsky
Bud Cort	...	Bill Ubell
Seu Jorge	...	Pelé dos Santos
Robyn Cohen	...	Anne-Marie Sakowitz
Waris Ahluwalia	...	Vikram Ray
Niels Koizumi	...	Bobby Ogata
Pawel Wdowczak	...	Renzo Pietro
Matthew Gray Gubler	...	Intern #1

Also Known As:

The Life Aquatic (USA) (working title)
Untitled Wes Anderson Project (USA) (working title)
Tiefseetaucher, Die (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Vie aquatique, La (Belgium: French title) (dubbed version) (France) [fr]
Édes vízi élet (Hungary) [hu]
Acquatici lunatici (Italy) (pre-release title) [it]
Avventure acquatiche di Steve Zissou, Le (Italy) [it]
Life Aquatic (Sweden) [sv]
Life Aquatic (Spain) [es]
Mereelu Steve Zissou seltsis (Estonia) [et]
Steve Zissoun vedenalainen maailma (Finland) [fi]
Vida acuática (Argentina) [es]
Vida acuática con Steve Zissou, La (Mexico) [es]
Vida acuática, con Steve Zissou (Chile) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some drug use, violence and partial nudity.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Icelandic | Filipino | Portuguese | French | Tagalog | German | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Hungary:14 | Malaysia:U (DVD) | USA:R (certificate #41059) | Norway:11 | South Korea:12 | Iceland:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Ireland:15A | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Michael Gambon's character's glasses were modeled after those of Ennio Morricone.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The word "terrified" is misspelled as "terrifed" in the subtitles early in the movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[in Italian]
Festival Director: Ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased to welcome you to the world premiere of Part 1 of the newest film from a great favorite of ours here at Loquasto, Mr. Steve Zissou. A brief Q & A will immediately follow the screening. Thank you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Starz on the Set: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

City Lights

Fun, Imaginative, Tragic, and Bowie...

I cannot express in words how many different styles of film making Wes Anderson combined into this masterpiece. At one point hilarious, sometimes even action-packed, while other times, you may feel a tear forming. Wes Anderson deserves major credit for this new addition to his excellent films.

The stop-motion animation, although underused, was extremely imaginative and is a lost art nowadays in movies that should be taken into consideration. The premise itself was great, but when you watch the film, you almost forget that the sole purpose of the film is to confront the jaguar shark, as you become connected with the characters emotionally.

Overall, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Seu Jorge (whose Portuguese interpretation of "Space Oddity" nearly drew me to tears with laughter) Cate Blanchett, and Owen Wilson, I applaud them for making such a great film better, Wes Anderson as well.

Excellent music, great acting, teary moments, and action-packed rescues make this a definite 9.5/10!