Susan Granger’s review of “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” (Disney)
Writer/director Wes Anderson (“Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”) sends up Jacques Cousteau in this wacky, wistful, occasionally humorous satire on the high seas. Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is an internationally famous oceanographer who records every detail of his voyages and misadventures for fun and profit. Problem is: what was once intrepid has now become tepid. So when his lead diver (Seymour Cassel) is gobbled by a “jaguar shark,” Zissou is determined to launch an expedition to hunt down the mythical creature. These plans don’t set well with Zissou’s estranged wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston) who abandons her role as his chief logistics officer shortly after the unexpected appearance of Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), a pilot for Air Kentucky, who claims to be Zissou’s long-lost son. Ambivalent (“I hate fathers and I never wanted to be one.”), Zissou, nevertheless, insists that Ned don the signature red knit cap and Speedo of Team Zissou, which elicits jealousy from the vessel’s engineer (Willem Dafoe). There’s the sexy, pregnant journalist (Cate Blanchett) who’s writing a profile, Zissou’s mercenary rival (Jeff Goldblum), Zissou’s producer (Michael Gambon) and a bond company representative (Bud Cort) who’s kidnapped by pirates. The ship Belafonte’s motley crew also includes Brazi’s Seu Jorge who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese. Wes Anderson is only interested in the oddball father-son familial bonding and as dismissive of the oceanographic details as is the world-weary Zissou himself, yet Henry Selick’s stop-motion sea-creature animation is whimsical. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” is a disappointing 5. Eccentrics afloat, it’s an off-beat ship of fools.
