The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

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The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

R

2004

1h 58m

Comedy

Romance

Action

Adventure

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

57%

Tomatometer

224 Reviews

82%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned (Owen Wilson), a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane (Cate Blanchett), a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor (Anjelica Huston).

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Critics Consensus

Much like the titular oceanographer, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou's overt irony may come off as smug and artificial -- but for fans of Wes Anderson's unique brand of whimsy it might be worth the dive.

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Sukhdev Sandhu

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Apr 1, 2019

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is so knowing and so arch: the first part striving for a faux-grandiosity that the second part tries to undercut by its pseudo-geekiness... but ends up being plain annoying.

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

Apr 1, 2019

How much of this will work for you depends on your appetite for the picturesquely dysfunctional.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Apr 1, 2019

3/5

It is such a brilliant idea, and everything looks so great, especially the way the film is constructed on Cousteau-esque lines, with the calm deliberation of a nature documentary from a more innocent age.

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Sarah Ward

Concrete Playground

Oct 16, 2025

Will always be Anderson's undersung gem. It's so quintessentially Anderson and, with its length, it's guilty of sprawling — but every absurdist moment is a marvel.

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Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Nov 9, 2023

3.5/4

While it would be nice to be able to laugh a little more (acoustic-guitar versions of David Bowie classics sung in Portuguese only go so far), the film delivers a metaphor for the death of romantic and robust boyhood imagination with great subtlety.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Feb 8, 2023

3/4

It may be impossible to love The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, but it's remarkably easy to drown in its sea of eccentricity.

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Ian S

@RT17606225 Sep 13, 2026

Boring, trying to be funny and smart, though it comes off as douchee. Fun scenes, simple basic comedy. Two stars is it. Best parts are Klaus (WD) The second time I watched this film I stopped it after 35min. Will never try to watch this abortion again.

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Trevor B

@TrevBills Apr 14, 2026

What the heck was this??

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Levi J

@Lev77 Mar 29, 2026

Great, smart, and underrated Wes Anderson movie!

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Brian K

@Briankeith3 Mar 19, 2026

Maddenly inconsistent with more distractions and plot issues than a 12 year old with ADHD. What a waste of some interesting ideas and lovely cinematography. Acting quality varies: Bill Murray is a natural, but Owen Wilson is not... the others fall in between

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Jonas S

@Steger Mar 5, 2026

One one my favourite movies. People who don't like this - I don't get.

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Yaaron R

@KompetenterMedi Feb 1, 2026

Not quite my kind of ocean The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou has clever dialogue and strong performances that add warmth to a very stylized film. The problem is that Wes Anderson’s controlled, deadpan, often absurd tone kept me at a distance, so I ended up watching it more than feeling it. The premise is fine, but the story never becomes gripping, and it struggles to build momentum. Visually, it is uneven, and some underwater animation has aged poorly enough to be distracting. I can see why fans love it, and I almost wish it clicked more for me, but it never fully did.

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Wes Anderson

Director

Bill Murray

Steve Zissou

Owen Wilson

Ned Plimpton

Cate Blanchett

Jane Winslett-Richardson

Anjelica Huston

Eleanor Zissou

Willem Dafoe

Klaus Daimler

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Synopsis

Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned (Owen Wilson), a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane (Cate Blanchett), a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor (Anjelica Huston).

Director: Wes Anderson
Producer: Barry Mendel, Scott Rudin
Screenwriter: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co: Touchstone Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions
Rating: R (Partial Nudity|Language|Some Drug Use|Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Action, Adventure, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $24.0M
Runtime: 1h 58m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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