Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
Go
Avg. Critic Score: 62 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    An exquisitely evocative movie that elevates rueful melancholia to a superpower. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Sheri Linden

    Wonderfully weird and wistful adventure-comedy about a fish-out-of-water oceanographer. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    The actor's (Murray) quiet, downcast presence modulates the antic busyness that encircles him, and his performance is a triumph of comic minimalism. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    It's almost a great movie. For half of its running time, Anderson maintains a distinct and arresting tone of vague absurdity, and then he loses control and the film begins to dip into silliness. Individual scenes become labored. Yet even at its worst, The Life Aquatic is always interesting -- there's really nothing else like it. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Wilson drops the ironic smirk to give a sincerely affecting performance. His scenes with Murray provide the ballast when the script veers off into unconvincing pirate attacks and animated sea creatures. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Hovers frustratingly somewhere between charming and only mildly amusing. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    As someone who has warmed up to Anderson's work only gradually, I'd call this a step back for him, but I also can't help but wonder: Will he ever take that crucial step forward and stop saying, Isn't it ironic? Read full review

  • 63
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The damnedest film. I can't recommend it, but I would not for one second discourage you from seeing it. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Robert Koehler

    The effect is often soporific. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Nothing but attitude. Read full review

View more reviews for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Another quirkfest from Wes Anderson; not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie includes very strong language, non-sexual nudity (topless sunbathing), and non-explicit sexual references and situations, including pregnancy from an adulterous affair and bisexuality. Characters drink, smoke, and smoke marijuana. Characters behave badly in many ways, from being cruel to each other to stealing. Characters are in peril and there are violent encounters with deadly animals and various weapons, including guns. Some characters are killed.
  • Families can talk about why Steve seemed more attached to his friend who was killed than to anyone else in his family or crew. What mattered to him? What mattered to Ned and Jane? What did it add to her character to have her pregnant?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Characters behave badly in many ways, from being cruel to each other to stealing.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Violence and peril, including guns, characters killed.
  • sex false3 Sex: Non-sexual nudity, non-explicit sexual references and situations.
  • language false5 Language: Very strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking, smoking, drug use.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 1,042 fan reviews

Critics say

Go See all critic reviews

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook