The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is a washed-up Jacques Cousteau type suffering from middle-age ennui and an Ahab complex--and he's about to make one last, rather out-of-character nature film about hunting down the shark that ate his first mate. Another eccentric, melancholy ensemble piece from wonderfully weird writer-director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums), The Life Aquatic is thick with the comedy of crew conflicts, researcher rivalries, laidback shootouts with kidnapper pirates, and an outlandish underwater world teeming with colorfully imaginary stop-motion creatures created by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas). While the underlying (and unspoken) joke of this oddball farce is that its world is transparently fake (packed with nonsense science and deliberately obvious soundstage "ship" sets), Anderson and his grand cast (Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum, among them) give the characters a wry sincerity that makes them all the more human against these ersatz backdrops. The director's strangely poignant playfulness isn't as compelling here as it has been in the past, but the idiosyncratic performances keep the plot afloat and the humor sailing charismatically--if not merrily--along. Recommended. [Note: Available in either a double disc special edition or single disc version, DVD extras on the two-disc Criterion Collection version include an audio commentary by director Wes Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach, a “Starz! On the Set” featurette (15 min.), five minutes of deleted scenes, 10 full video performances of David Bowie songs in Portuguese by Seu Jorge (40 min.), a 52-minute “This Is An Adventure” production documentary, an interview with composer and Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh (20 min.), a 17-minute segment from the Italian TV talk show Mondo Monda with host Antonio Monda interviewing Anderson and Baumbach (17 min.), the intern video journal by actor and real-life intern Matthew Gray Gubler (16 min.), the featurettes “The Look Aquatic” on  the locations (6 min.), “Creating a Scene” (5 min.), “Costumes” (5 min.), and “Aquatic Life” on visual effects, 14 minutes of interviews with cast members Seymore Cassel, Owen Wilson, and Kate Blanchett, a photo gallery, art gallery, Easter eggs, and trailers. Bottom line: a widespread and engaging extras package for a quirky but winsome film.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—May 20, 2014—Criterion, 118 min., R, $39.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou sports a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary by director Wes Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach, the production featurette “This Is an Adventure” (52 min.), 10 full performances of David Bowie songs in Portuguese by costar and soundtrack participant Seu Jorge (40 min.), cast and crew interviews (37 min.), an interview with composer Mark Mothersbaugh (19 min.), a Mondo Monda Italian talk show interview with Anderson and Baumbach (17 min.), a video journal by actor and intern Matthew Gray Gubler (16 min.), a “making-of” featurette (15 min.), deleted scenes (5 min.), photo and design galleries, a trailer, and a booklet with a conversation between Anderson and his brother Eric Chase Anderson. Bottom line: Anderson's quirky favorite makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]