funny and engaging, but it may just need to grow on me over time

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2014)

Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, a tale of an old-lady womanizer (Ralph Fiennes, the reason if nothing else to see the film) who is accused of murder and up against an evil son and set in the backdrop of a fake-but-sorta-real European landscape in the mid 1930's, is at its best when it evokes a comparative feeling through its style that may or may not have anything to do with the film itself.
This I mean is the passage of time for cinema, as its in three times (30s, late 60s, briefly mid 80s) and had three different aspect ratios, largely shot in 1:33 (the square, not the widescreen rectangle for you laymans) And at this, of course, the film is always a pleasure to look at. That's a given for Anderson. His work here is especially colorful, every hue pops and shines even in that few minutes where it's Black and White on the train, and Fiennes and company are game to play along...
Yet, ultimately, I felt maybe a little-sorta let down following the one two punch of Fantastic Mr Fox and Moonrise Kingdom. Though a lot happens in Budapest hotel and its oozing period detail (both real Euro and made up), it's ultimately a bug-eyed cartoon and only two main males, Gustav and his bell-boy-turned-surrogate-son Zero, have two dimensions with everyone else with one. And of course Willem Dafoe looks cool in black leather on a motorcycle (unintentional homage to his debut in the Loveless mayhap crossed with a second tier bond villain ?) and the music is sweet and catchy.
I just didn't see the characters having enough depth for me to care that much past the facade Anderson has made up. As with Fox and Life Aquatic to an extent, this is a world where many times you'll see this world created in the hotel and out as a diorama, and all Anderson and his cameraman shoot it impeccably. maybe, this time, TOO impeccably, for me. It gets to the point where even in its controlled pov you''ll know where the cameras going to move, who will be where, even what they'll probably say, filled with witty and sometimes very funny jargony speech.
And at the end of it all it's fun to watch, has a look that is unlike anything at the movies right now, and has the sort of bittersweet ending Anderson has made a hallmark of his career. It just doesn't stick with me and prod at me like the director does when he gives characters with firmer consequences at hand. And yes I know this story is in the backdrop of a (pre) war environment and involves falsely accused murder (if one must give the highest comparative praise, think the cultural refinery in Renoirs 30s pics with a Hitchcock yarn also from the 30s). But... too many characters, all drawn with broad strokes, and just when you think you're getting a handle on one like Ronans character shell slip away from the movie so long that the motivations get mixed up.
Recommended for being the work of a master stylist (And Jeff Goldblum cause he's who he is) but not recommended if you want a movie with something to say, which after Moonrise and Tenenbams and bottle rocket, I know the man's capable of. 7.5/10