Not what I was hoping for

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2010)

I love Wes Anderson. I think he is one of the most talented film makers out there right now. I must say that this is probably my least favorite film of his. I loved the music and it really set the mood for the movie. The animation was something special. I never expect to be surprised by stop animation and I always think I have seen it all, but there were just some fantastic shots for me. The dialog was fantastic for the most part and the writing was tight in that aspect. The reason that I give it a seven though is because I never connected with the film. I enjoyed all of the aspects of the movie, but it never came together with me. I did not connect with any of the characters and the story never seemed to flow for me with respect to the characters. My favorite character was the mother and she did not do anything and in the end did not have a satisfactory part of the story. I also did not feel any of the joy of being a kid while watching this film; not like with a pixar film. I know it is unfair to compare any movie to a pixar film, but one has to now. One of the biggest issues that I had with the movie was the use of "cuss". I felt like it was used to much. By the end of the movie I was getting tired of it and I wished Anderson and Baumbauch used it less and just used their wit, which they have more than 90% of Hollywood combined. I do not know why I did not enjoy this movie. I had my reservations because of the stop motion, but that was actually the most satisfying part of the movie. The biggest thing that the movie lacked for me was a character that was the emotional core of the film. There was nothing for me to connect on a human level. That is why I love Wes Anderson and without the emotional core it is just a quirky stop-motion movie that is a really good movie, but not the movie I was hoping for.