Search - The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

The first effort from director Wes Anderson since his critically beloved The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou finds the filmmaker re-teaming with a number of familiar faces, including Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, and Seymour Cassel. Murray plays Steve Zissou, an eccentric and renowned oceanographer who has decided to seek out and enact mortal revenge on a shark that ate one of the men on his team. Along for the ride is Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), a young man who has joined Zissou's crew after showing up claiming to be the seaman's long-lost son and Zissou's co-producer (and estranged wife), Eleanor Angelica Huston. As the expedition ensues, the two bond and Plimpton falls for a female journalist (Cate Blanchett) who is writing a piece on Zissou. The crew meets a host of obstacles on their journey, including pirates, kidnapping, and bankruptcy. Adding a flair of whimsy to the film's aesthetic, the sea creatures and underwater scenes in the film have been created using stop-motion animation under the direction of Henry Selick, the man behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. The ensemble cast also includes Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Noah Taylor, and Bud Cort. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Bill Murray - Steve Zissou
Owen Wilson - Ned Plimpton
Cate Blanchett - Jane Winslett-Richardson
Anjelica Huston - Eleanor Zissou
Willem Dafoe - Klaus Daimler
Jeff Goldblum - Alistair Hennessy

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou comes to DVD with all the class that people have come to expect from all of Wes Anderson's Criterion releases. This time, the movie is being released strictly from the renowned company, with this single release and another two-disc special edition release that's ripe with exemplary supplemental material. Anderson's adventure comedy gets its second wind here on DVD and should now have room to flourish not under the critical microscope that plagued its theatrical release, but through a certain acceptance and understanding that comes from repeated viewings and, in this case, a healthy dose of extras that shine a new light on the gifted director's fourth feature. This disc presents the film with a gorgeous new high-definition transfer that, along with dual Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio mixes, gives life to the brilliant soundtrack and superb cinematography. The picture looks stunning, with brilliant colors and just the right amount of film grain in the image. Also included on the disc is a commentary from Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach. Recorded in a café, where they wrote most of the film, the track gives the viewer a look into the director's relationship with his new collaborator, who seems to respect film just as much as his new buddy, while also displaying a keen knowledge of the director's past works. The talk is a bit dry, though that should be expected. By the end of the track, the two hope that they didn't come off too pretentious, given the admission that they aren't prone to delve into this kind of critical self-analysis too often, which is a good thing since the track does tend to dip into heavy cinema talk from time to time. Other extras include a batch of ten deleted scenes (highlighted by a classic bit with a scorched Willem Dafoe), as well as the original theatrical trailer and a 15-minute "Starz on the Set" cable special. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

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