The Life Aquatic - The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray]

The making of special feature is almost worth the purchase of this Blu Ray all by itself. All the colors pop on the screen. Like many Wes Anderson movies this feels like it was made for Blu Ray.

The Life Aquatic is a great movie that focusing on a primary plot moving element which is ultimately to take revenge on an unknown sea shark doubly named the "Jaguar Shark", which ate the friend of protagonist Steve Zissou. The movie has many whimsical almost magical notes that allow the viewer to live in the world director, Wes Anderson, has created to suite his requirements of finding the shark and having several character sub plots for several characters we slowly start to know, understand, and finally connect with. Steve Zissou is the man we find ourselves rooting for especially. He is a man that has followed his passion his whole life and appears to be very well traveled, intelligent, and obsessed with creating the environment to document his every adventure with a full camera and sea faring crew including 6 unnamed interns. Positioning the movie as a documentary to find and kill this Jaguar Shark, Anderson allows the movie to be slightly poetic and having a need to make for a good movie. One of Zissou's crew members is a full time Soundboard expert for the documentary that plays David Bowie songs with his acoustic guitar, adding to the whimsical feel. The movie also strives to give the audience a good feeling. That Zissou, despite going through depression and older age, seems to be a constant driving force for the crew, but in his own way which includes a focus on very detailed oriented and well thought out plans essential to make his mission a complete success. For instance, a short break in the movie occurs for Zissou to explain his sea-faring ship to the new member of his crew, his son, which is slowly verified throughout the course of the film. As Zissou takes us through his ship he explains, that when he purchased the boat, and for how much; and a small fact about each room. The kitchen, he explains has the most technological instruments on the ship. By saying that piece of seemingly insignificant information actually tells the viewer that he takes high importance in the simple pleasures in life of having high quality food. However, you never see the crew eat, or is this fact ever mentioned again. This gives that reader a sliver of information that this crew eats well, and divulges what Zissou's priorities are or that he works hard to provide a meaningful and generally happy life.The movie also has many sub plot moving points and many insignificant plot points that are just fun to watch but upon further glance it's these scenes that give insight that could have only been narrated. One instance, is when Zissou accepts a gift of the multicolored miniature sea horse that was given to Zissou by the first mate's son. Through a course of events the bag, which held this marvelous creature, was punctured. The quick thinking Zissou grabs a champagne glass with seamless hesitation and fills the sea horse and it's water into the champagne glass and rising it above his head as he makes his exit through the busy room. The other insignificant scene/character includes the two albino dolphins which have been outfitted with video cameras to swim aside the ship giving some reconnaissance to the control room within the ship's hull. Zissou constantly doubts the effectiveness of these two dolphins claiming them to be worthless. Later in the film, however, these dolphins play in a minor part for a laugh in the movie giving the viewer the chance to see the dolphin find something, and Zissou not quite catching it. One more instance of the insignificant plot points are the glowing jellyfish that drifted onto the beach when the tide pulled back. Hundreds of glowing jellyfish illuminate the beach. Ned, Zissou's so-called son, holds that microphone boom for Zissou's documentary. The scene is used to allow Zissou to allow Ned to enter a scene in his documentary when Ned asked `why do the jellyfish glow'. The viewer gets more insight into Zissou's want to get to know his son. It becomes more relevant when we find out that Zissou knew he had a son since he was born, and never made an effort to find him earlier in his life. Which begs the question, why is Zissou trying to rekindle the relationship, and why is Ned continuing to accept the fact while he continues to be a member of the Zissou crew. The answer seems to be ideals and a sense of adventure for the complete unknown with well-developed story themes with a different almost child-like view on life while they prepare and hunt for the Jaguar Shark.

Happy with purchase

I love this with Bill Murray in the perfect role and Wes Anderson’s cinematic style. 10/10

I wouldn't say that this is the damndest movie I ever saw, because I've seen damnder and I don't know whether that's a compliment or a criticism.Wes Anderson, who wrote and directed this movie, lives in his own special world. It's not one in which I could live long and stay sane, but it's a curious place to visit for two hours. That's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." As you can see from the product description and other reviews, it has a dynamite cast. While Bill Murray, who in my book can do no wrong, is clearly its leader, this is very much an ensemble piece. it's a comedy that made me laugh out loud about three times, though I wasn't counting, rose an occasional chuckle and a sustained smile. It's whimsy committed to celluloid, without a mean bone in its body or a strong bone in its plot. In fact, it moves from one curious episode to the next, with almost no story at all so. If you've just finished "The Collected Works of Raymond Chandler," this would be a nice warm toddy to calm you down. It's a character piece with some very strange characters, set in a production design that may remind boomers of their high-school chemistry classrooms. Its last thirty minutes are "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" if Walt Disney had ingested his Kingdom's Magic Mushrooms. Visually, it's a lot of fun. The stop-motion animation is charming: Ray Harryhausen on Uncle Walt's mushrooms.I struggled between three and four stars on this one but leaned leniently. For a Criterion Collection item, it was dirt-cheap: about six bucks. I'll watch it again to convince myself that it's just what I thought I saw the first time. It may grow on me. If it doesn't, I'll let you know. If it does, I hope there's a mild disinfectant that will clean it off.

Le film est très bien. Seulement ce blu-ray n'est pas lisible en Europe (zone A) donc pourquoi le vendre sur Amazon.be ?

Magistrale Bill Murray a metà tra Jacques Cousteau, Peter dei Ghostbuster e Brancaleone che vive quello che rimane di un passato glorioso. Tutto girato sulle coste italiane, la regia di Wes Anderson e la bellezza del paesaggio si valorizzano a vicenda.

Entrega rápida y en perfecto estado, viene en español, inglés y francés, muy contenta con la compra

Film - Genug gesagt - alle Meinungen schon dabei....ich bin großer Fan von Wes Andersen...Eine Szene die die Tiefseetaucher - Welt verändert. Schlüsselszene?Zissou kommt auf seine "Insel" und trifft auf seine Frau. Sie sagt zur Begrüßung: "deine Katze ist tot."Was im ersten Moment als sehr plumpe Szene daher kommt. Entscheidet für den Zuschauer die Art wie man bereit ist den Film zu schauen. In diesem Moment schlüpft man in die Rolle eines der Zuschauer die der Premiere des Filmes am Ende beiwohnen.Eine im Film abgesprochene Szene ohne den Zuschauer zu informieren? Der Dialog ist offensichtlich von Zissou vorher mit seiner Frau abgesprochen worden.Seine Frau ist extrem gelangweilt weil sie meiner Meinung nach kein Bock hat bei dieser Farce mitzuspielen. Er kritisiert dies mit dem Kommentar, Sie hätte das doch gefühlvoller sagen sollen. (Was er sich für den Film gewünscht hätte). Sein Sohn ist nicht eingeweiht. Weswegen er später nach dem Namen der Katze fragt worauf Zissou so etwas wie "Sch... auf die Katze" antwortet.Ab diesem Zeitpunkt ist der Film beim erneuten schauen, auf mehrere ebenen zu beurteilen. Sehe ich gerade den Ablauf der Geschichte, oder das gespielte im Film, für den Film, im Film. Und das sind wesentlich mehr Szene als einem beim ersten/zweiten oder dritten Mal auffällen.Diese Spielerei mit dem Zuschauer ist das was mir an dem Film so Spaß macht. Neben Darstellern / Ausstattung / Liebe zu Detail und natürlich Dafoe. Aber ich kann wirklich gut verstehen dass man den Film auch echt Sch.... finden kann. Mich jedoch bringen die Filme von Wes Anderson immer wieder zum Staunen. Super!!Ach ja...und die tolle Musik nicht zu vergessen!!

I have to say i'm bemused as to why people would label a film such as this as 'pretentious' because it clearly doesn't take itself seriously at all; it doesn't purport to be anything it isn't, this film will bring a laugh and a smile and warm your heart like many of Wes Anderson's films. I mean, come on; Bill Murray and his haphazard crew of weirdos armed to the teeth storming that island? This is a fun film and people who dismiss it as pretentious obviously don't really know the true meaning of the word.This movie details the adventures of fallen from grace eccentric oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou (Bill Murray). While working on his previous documentary, his best friend Esteban du Plantier (Seymour Cassel) was eaten by an animal Zissou describes as a "Jaguar shark". For his next project, Zissou is determined to document the destruction of the creature. Zissou's crew aboard his research vessel Belafonte includes Pelé dos Santos (Seu Jorge), a safety expert and Brazilian musician who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese; Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), a lovable German second-in-command who views Zissou and Esteban as father figures and feels threatened by Zissou's possible son, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson).Zizzou is world famous and used to be an icon to kids who joined his fan club and followed his adventures in his documentaries. He is facing the prospect of being washed up, past his best and no longer relevant; finding the jaguar shark gives him a new sense of purpose, it is the only way he can validate his life, be remembered and show that his life still has meaning.The performances, particularly from Murray and Wilson, are wonderful and they are supported by a fantastic cast making up Zizzou's bizzare crew. Watch out for a delightful role for Jeff Goldblum as Zizzou's rival! Here we follow Zizzou's bizzare quest to wreak revenge on the giant shark that killed his friend- the plot moves in squiggly lines and toys with the surreal but it's funny and often touching; I enjoyed it very much.