Wes Anderson has always maintained a high level of quality, but his sparkling record with the critics has one unfortunate blemish. Since his early successes,RushmoreandThe Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson has established himself as one of American cinema’s great auteurs, and he has developed a devoted fan base throughout his career.
Anderson’s best moviesare often showered with praise, particularly his biggest hits likeFantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise KingdomandThe Grand Budapest Hotel.Anderson’s idiosyncratic style has gained him legions of admirers, but this unique approach didn’t spring up overnight.
As Anderson blazed his own trail in the late 1990s and early 2000s, his style gradually started to take shape. Looking back at his early hits, it’s clear to see that they aren’t quite as abstract and quirky as 2025’sThe Phoenician Scheme, which often resembles a Tex Avery cartoon. Anderson’s reputation took one big hit as his artistic persona took shape.
Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic Deserves More Love
Critics Were Too Harsh On The Life Aquatic In 2004
Back in 2004,The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissouwas met with mixed reviews, but with the benefit of hindsight, it looks like Anderson’s comedic adventure movie was simply ahead of its time. It has a 57% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is uncharacteristically low for the director.
Despite its low critical score,The Life Aquaticsits at a healthy 82% on the Popcornmeter, which measures audience reactions on Rotten Tomatoes. This reflects the fact that it has gained a cult following over the years, and it has been reclaimed as a misunderstood masterpiece.
People’s views are no longer aligned with how critics treatedThe Life Aquaticat the time. Rewatching it in 2025 makes its poor reviews seem strange, sinceit’s just as funny, creative and deceptively heartfelt as any of Anderson’s movies, with some gorgeous visuals and a stylish soundtrack of Portuguese-language David Bowie covers to boot.
AlthoughThe Life Aquatichas had something of a resurgence, it’s still treated as a secondary, non-essential work in Anderson’s career. The quality of his filmography means that it has some stiff competition, butThe Life Aquaticmay have been Anderson’s most important movie in his artistic evolution.
How The Life Aquatic Has Gotten Better With Age
Anderson’s Career Now Makes The Life Aquatic Look Even Better
WatchingThe Life Aquaticback shows just how important it was in Anderson’s career.The Royal Tenenbaumsfollows the saga of one quirky family, butThe Life Aquatictakes Anderson’s playful approach to the extreme. It’s the first one of his movies that doesn’t appear to take place in the real world at all.
The brief stop-motion animations and the mythological sea creatures both highlightThe Life Aquatic’s true nature as a whimsical fable. Anderson dresses up a weighty story about fatherhood and regret in some child-friendly picture-book visuals.
Like his most critically acclaimed movies,The Life Aquaticgets a lot of mileage from the tension between form and substance.
To the credit ofThe Life Aquatic,it’s worth watching for more than its place within Anderson’s career. Even for newcomers who might not be accustomed to the director’s style,The Life Aquaticoffers a lot to love. Its unconventional appearance is wrapped around a deeply emotional story about one man searching for revenge as he grieves his best friend’s death.
For all its cutesy creatures and deadpan humor,The Life Aquaticdelivers a gut-punch when it needs to. It’s hard to shake the image of Steve and his crew crammed into a submarine, watching the shark drift peacefully by, or that of his moment of calm outside the theater right at the end.
Bill Murray & Wes Anderson’s Partnership Peaked With The Life Aquatic
The Life Aquaticis one ofBill Murray’s best movies, and it’s a perfect showcase of what makes the actor so special. While Murray is capable of getting plenty of laughs as a charming goofball in movies likeGhostbustersandCaddyshack,his most interesting performances come when his character has more pathos, like inGroundhog DayorLost in Translation.
Murray delivers a deadpan masterclass inThe Life Aquatic,keying into Anderson’s wry dialogue perfectly, but he also sees the heart in Steve Zissou. For all his eccentricities and his showmanship, Steve is a tragic character willing to live and die for his art, even if that destroys any relationship he has on land.
Bill Murray has been in 10 of Wes Anderson’s movies, starting with 1998’sRushmore.
The central metaphor ofThe Life Aquaticwouldn’t work without Murray’s warm presence. He manages to reconcile the comedy with the dull ache of Steve’s drive to find meaning in his work. When he is ultimately faced with the chance to carry out his self-assigned mission, he lets it pass. It’s here thatMurray shows a deft hand, leaving a mark without overdoing it.
A lot of the best performances in Anderson’s movies come from actors who don’t sit flush with the director’s neatly-manicured style. Ralph Fiennes inThe Grand Budapest Hoteland Gene Hackman inThe Royal Tenenbaumsare unforgettable because they oppose and disrupt Anderson’s flow. Murray does the opposite, but it’s just as unforgettable in its own way.
Murray brings Anderson’s script to life, embodying Steve Zissou’s rough charms so completely that it seems as though no other actor could play the role. To watchThe Life Aquaticis to watch a director and an actor in perfect harmony, which is apt considering the film’s reflection of Anderson’s artistic pursuits.
