Despite all of its similarities to Anderson�s other works, something
about this movie seemed off. The editing was choppy and the scenes were
strangely, albeit amusingly, cut off. The acting delivered by Wilson, Dafoe and
especially Murray was awkwardly and sometimes blatantly unnatural. The writing
was disjointed. The plot had an irregular rhythm; dramatic moments would go by
in seconds and nonsense would ensue for minutes. In other words, it felt like if
the film were a person that person would have a very noticeable developmental
disorder.
Then it all comes together. This film is to be taken as a story told by a
child. The biggest hint that this is the case is the appearance of a small boy
in traditional German garb who gives Zissou a small crayon pony fish at the
beginning of the movie and rides on his shoulders at the end. The boy emphasizes
the desire for adventure and fascination with discovery that runs as a theme
throughout the entire movie. During the course of the movie the viewer comes
across fanciful species after fanciful species made real through the use of
stop-motion animation by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas,
1993; James and the Giant Peach, 1996) and his crew.
Wes Anderson�s movies often have a childish quality to them;
Rushmore is about a precocious youth dealing with adults and The
Royal Tenenbaums strives to convey the feeling of a child�s storybook
through use of unusual slightly unreal characters, simple episodic
circumstances, and (most overtly) scene shifts presented within the first page
of a new chapter in an illustrated book. Wes Anderson is like Roald Dahl, but
American, and he produces movies instead of books.
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