The first effort from director
Wes Anderson since his critically beloved
The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou finds the filmmaker re-teaming with a number of familiar faces, including
Bill Murray,
Owen Wilson,
Anjelica Huston, and
Seymour Cassel. Murray plays Steve Zissou, an eccentric and renowned oceanographer who has decided to seek out and enact mortal revenge on a shark that ate one of the men on his team. Along for the ride is Ned Plimpton (
Owen Wilson), a young man who has joined Zissou's crew after showing up claiming to be the seaman's long-lost son and Zissou's co-producer (and estranged wife), Eleanor Angelica Huston. As the expedition ensues, the two bond and Plimpton falls for a female journalist (
Cate Blanchett) who is writing a piece on Zissou. The crew meets a host of obstacles on their journey, including pirates, kidnapping, and bankruptcy. Adding a flair of whimsy to the film's aesthetic, the sea creatures and underwater scenes in the film have been created using stop-motion animation under the direction of
Henry Selick, the man behind
The Nightmare Before Christmas and
James and the Giant Peach. The ensemble cast also includes
Willem Dafoe,
Jeff Goldblum,
Michael Gambon,
Noah Taylor, and
Bud Cort. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide