Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Aquatic maintains its buoyancy throughout.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The director of "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" scores his most funny-sad movie to date.

Time Richard Schickel

For those of us who think this is the best comedy of 2004, the genius of the movie lies in its relocation.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

An exquisitely evocative movie that elevates rueful melancholia to a superpower.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Like the old and creaky Belafonte, the film itself seems forever on the brink of drifting away. But it's the kind of drifting that's nothing but enjoyable. In fact, it's beyond enjoyable - heading into waters full of whimsy, mystery and odd, psychedelic fish.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Wonderfully weird and wistful adventure-comedy about a fish-out-of-water oceanographer.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The actor's (Murray) quiet, downcast presence modulates the antic busyness that encircles him, and his performance is a triumph of comic minimalism.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Funny, bewildering, giddy spectacle.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Wes Anderson's movies taste that way to me. They're dryly funny, well-acted, never less than quirkily entertaining. But they're never more, either.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

A movie deeply immersed in movie lore, and the more seasoned the swimmer the richer the experience.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Wilson drops the ironic smirk to give a sincerely affecting performance. His scenes with Murray provide the ballast when the script veers off into unconvincing pirate attacks and animated sea creatures.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Intermittently brilliant, intermittently hilarious -- and occasionally tedious.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's almost a great movie. For half of its running time, Anderson maintains a distinct and arresting tone of vague absurdity, and then he loses control and the film begins to dip into silliness. Individual scenes become labored. Yet even at its worst, The Life Aquatic is always interesting -- there's really nothing else like it.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Even when caught in a rut, Anderson's obsessive vision still yields many exhilarating surprises.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Nobody could leave The Life Aquatic without the impression of having nearly drowned in some secret and melancholy game.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Hovers frustratingly somewhere between charming and only mildly amusing.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

None of it is truly inspired, but Murray's deadpan presence holds it all together.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A fascinating, masterly, frustrating film, it only passingly touches on the heart and sharpness of Anderson's previous work and rather brings to mind the famous complaint of the emperor in "Amadeus": "too many notes."

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

As someone who has warmed up to Anderson's work only gradually, I'd call this a step back for him, but I also can't help but wonder: Will he ever take that crucial step forward and stop saying, Isn't it ironic?

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It is not as engaging as "The Royal Tenenbaums," but about on par with "Rushmore" and "Bottle Rocket."

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The damnedest film. I can't recommend it, but I would not for one second discourage you from seeing it.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Noah Baumbach collaborated on the arch script, whose bittersweet weirdness leaves a residue even as the narrative disintegrates.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Murray is always pleasurable company, and his barely suppressed soulfulness might've supported this dawdling big-fish story if its insistent larkiness had abated and let a little reality in, as had "Rushmore."

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Somewhere buried beneath all this ballast something is being said, again, about flawed middle-aged men falling from grace and redeeming themselves. This time I'm damned if I know what that something is.

Empire Staff (Not credited)

The garish, exotic, retro styling is Anderson at his visual best. In terms of character and sensibility, though, this is sadly Anderson at his worst.

Variety Robert Koehler

The effect is often soporific.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

There's a lot to appreciate here, especially Mr. Murray's variations on the sad but hopeful soul he played in "Rushmore" (and in "Lost In Translation"). Yet meanings get lost in a clutter of cleverness.

USA Today Mike Clark

Nothing but attitude.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Overburdened with knowingly charming touches. It's waterlogged with whimsy.

Slate David Edelstein

This one is a mess--a misshapen, mawkish tragicomedy bordering on self-parody. Its ambitions deserve respect, though.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The more technically proficient Anderson gets as a filmmaker, the more emotionally barren his movies become, till at last The Life Aquatic drowns in a sea of self-indulgent touches that delight the filmmaker but distance the filmgoer who wants to love the director and his characters but just can't, not anymore.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A comedy that seems to have most everything going for it but the ability to make us laugh.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Will ultimately be remembered more for the trademark Anderson look than for any of its characters or any emotional impact.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie still feels strangely inert; it's an adventure in which nothing ever really seems to happen.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The film's meta-fey title alone is an example of why some people adore Anderson and why he drives others absolutely crazy.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's so cool all the life has drained away, leaving nothing behind but a faint whiff of attitude.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

If there's anything more tiresome in film today than hip irony, it is forced irony, and here comes a boatload with Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It's the strangest comic misfire yet from Wes Anderson.