After seeing Bottle Rocket in 2008 I wrote up an article headlined “I reviewed the Criterion Blu-ray and I found both to be interesting reads considering how my opinion has changed over the years.
That said, here are a couple of my favorite quotes from this film that I can’t help laughing at every time I see it:
“Bob’s gone! He stole his car!” and, my favorite, “God, this is great, sitting here in the laundry room. You working on your vocabulary and we’re sharing these tamales.”
From Fox’s signature snap and whistle to the straight-forward presentation of the film’s narrative, which deals with family, responsibility, growing up and being a parent just as much as it is an amazingly inventive heist comedy. The scene with the wolf, the bandit hats, the dancing, the waterfall, the smoke made from cotton, Whackbat and more. This film cussing has it all… “Hot box!”
Watching it play out I saw so much of Fantastic Mr. Fox I felt this too could have been presented in stop-motion animation. Obviously, if I saw Fantastic Fox in it, I also saw Life Aquatic as the three films seem eternally linked. There’s heart at the center of the story, cynicism is rampant and the good, bad and ugly of everyday life is presented in such a way that it makes for perfect entertainment while also remaining entirely dramatic.
Moonrise Kingdom is a film that could be loved by people of all ages, everyone taking something different out of it. In that way it is easily the best Anderson has to offer us so far, but the other six are all worth something in their own right and I’m excited to see what he has in store in the future.
So there you have it. Now it’s your turn. How would you rank Wes Anderson’s first seven films? What are your thoughts on his short films and commercials? Speak up in the comments below!
