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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: R (for language, some drug use, violence and partial nudity) Theater release: December 25, 2004 by Touchstone Pictures Directed by: Wes Anderson Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes Cast: Bill Murray (Steve Zissou), Owen Wilson (Ned Plimpton), Anjelica Huston (Eleanor Zissou), Cate Blanchett (Jane Winslett-Richardson), Willem Dafoe (Klaus Damler) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

You won't find the word father on the résumé of Steve Zissou.

That's because Zissou, an inventive seafaring documentarian, has been too caught up in his own self-perpetuating mythology to settle down and raise a family. But every dream has its price, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, director Wes Anderson's latest melancho-medy, is the story of a visionary who must reckon with the temporality, and the cost, of his dreams. The ambitious captain of the Belafonte is clearly past his prime. Cracks are spreading through his reputation as a trustworthy scientist. He's burdened by tragedy. And he's struggling to maintain his few important relationships. Life is proving more difficult to "direct" than the movies he makes with his crew. He'll either sink under the weight of life's disappointments, or be lifted up by an unexpected blessing.

Bill Murray plays Steve Zissou, a character with a quirky nod to Jacques Cousteau

Played with typical devil-may-care detachment by Bill Murray, Zissou is a comical version of the popular 1970s explorer Jacques Cousteau. His films recount the adventures of his faithful crew, "Team Zissou," as they examine new forms of sea life and hold forth about their discoveries, sporting the trademark Zissou style—Speedos and red stocking caps. As a result, they've enjoyed some celebrity … even some merchandising. There was once a line of Zissou adidas.

But Zissou's audience is becoming suspicious that some aspects of his video chronicles are "faked." When his latest installment premieres, documenting the death of his loyal sidekick Esteban (Anderson standby Seymour Cassell) in the jaws of the rare and dangerous Jaguar Shark, they're skeptical. When he vows that his next chapter will be a revenge quest against the bloodthirsty beast, it sounds like the plan of a man losing his balance.

Ill-advised and ill-equipped, Zissou's quest is interrupted by a crisis that brings out the best in him. After his ship is attacked by Filipino pirates, he musters the courage to attempt the rescue of a hostage crew member, postponing the inevitable face-off with that dastardly shark. He demonstrates some of the heroism he always hopes his films will capture.

Owen Wilson plays the part of Ned, the newest member of Team Zissou

There are other storms, however, that he's not so prepared to endure. Off-camera, his marriage to the magisterial Eleanor (Anjelica Huston), "the brains" behind Team Zissou, is floundering. He's jealous at the success of his competitor, wealthy seaman Allistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), who may steal Eleanor's affections. And he's taken aback when a new volunteer—a Southern gentleman and Air Kentucky pilot named Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson)—climbs aboard and announces that he may be Zissou's son. The melancholy skipper retorts, "I hate fathers and I never wanted to be one." Ultimately, his quest to get revenge ("Maybe with dynamite") will lead him to realize that his glory days are past, his journey will be fraught with uncertainty and disappointment, and yet his efforts have not been entirely in vain. He was right all along to approach the world with enthusiasm and wonder.

Careening between comical capers and existential angst, Aquatic is Anderson's most ambitious work to date. It's set outside his natural habitat of meticulously designed interiors. And yet, each scene bears his unmistakable signature. It feels more "illustrated" than filmed, in a way that couldn't be replicated by any other artist. Each of Aquatic's exotic contexts is precariously balanced between complicated realism and inspired whimsy. In his cabin, Zissou struggles with the pressures of adulthood. But when he dives, we're plunged into a cartoonish wonderland. Most of the creatures we see there—from a glow-in-the-dark shark to a Technicolor seahorse—were given life by Henry Selick, the master of stop animation who brought us The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Zissou's passengers are just as colorful as the specimens he draws from the sea. He's assembled a team of laborers who, while they lack "the background" to deserve such positions, flatter their captain's ego and mirror his aimlessness. In return, they're given a sense of purpose and identity.

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