More heart than soul

Rating: 4/10 (27 May 2013)

This movie seems like Wes Anderson wanted to make another movie but didn't really know what about, so he just decided to copy The Life Aquatic's aesthetic without including the interesting bits.
The directors want us to believe that the two young protagonists are anti-social and quirky, but none of the other kids act any differently and most of the adults are similarly callous. You're not setting your protagonists apart when everyone acts the same, and this was a problem throughout the movie. It doesn't really give us an opportunity to connect to the characters, who just seem to get involved in a series of increasingly bizarre moments with the same level of apathy and dryness throughout except for the surprisingly rushed love story, which is cute and innocent enough.
But the actors did play their parts. The two child leads were believable in their crush for each other and their social ineptitude. They weren't really the problem as much as the script rendering them normal in the universe. Bill Murray was funny, Norton and Willis did well playing the only two adults who seem to almost be real people. It does seem like they put their heart into it, there just wasn't enough substance for them to put their effort in to, which is saying a lot for a Wes Anderson movie.
In the end, it just comes off as a generic Wes Anderson movie. Personally, I'd rather watch The Life Aquatic again, but if your'e a big Wes Anderson fan, then you'll probably love it.