A Lamentable Case of Arrested Development
Without reading too much into it--this is not "8½"--it's worth noting that at its core, "Life Aquatic" is about the decline of a filmmaker. The subject of Zissou's next production, the mysterious "jaguar shark," has proved elusive. Like "Rushmore"'s Max Fisher, who directed his stock company in lurid "hit plays" full of gunfights and pregnant nuns, Steve Zissou has the burning desire to show us something, but he's not sure what it is.It's all the more disappointing that when the much anticipated jaguar shark finally shows up, it just plain sucks, glowing lamely as it drifts by to an overplayed Sigur Ros song. The decision to use claymation effects instead of real aquatic life is one of the film's greatest blunders. Robbed of the real beauty and majesty of underwater creatures, Zissou is searching for crappily animated "Finding Nemo" rejects that undermine the entire enterprise. If we can't even find the spark of the real in Zissou's obsession, how can he ever become a character we can care about?
"Rushmore" was one of the best American movies of the 1990s not just because it was a witty portrait of an oddball, but because beneath the silliness beat a real heart; whimsy and touching sincerity were perfectly calibrated. Apparently, all Hollywood saw was how wonderfully "offbeat" Anderson's work was, and they threw money and stars his way, asking for more. The budget for "The Life Aquatic" dwarfs that of his previous films, but it bought precious little that is touching, honest or true. "Offbeat" is all we're left with, the same old ticks all puffed up with money and nowhere to go, while the precocious director is stuck with a lamentable case of arrested development.
