The Grand Budapest Hotel is quite an entertaining film

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2014)

The films from director Wes Anderson are unmistakable, because of their flamboyant visual style and the narrative which takes the characters through absurd routes of comedy and drama which rarely lead to where the audience expected. Needless to say that this style isn't everyone's cup of tea; personally, I liked some of his films very much (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom), but I wasn't left completely satisfied by other ones (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited). Fortunately, The Grand Budapest Hotel, his most recent film, shows us Anderson in quite a good shape, investing a huge care for the story to be always interesting, to make the characters feel real despite their eccentricities, and to make every frame of the movie a delight to the view. In that way, despite some scenes which cross the line from the idiosyncrasy to the irritation and a few forced details, we can always have a solid production design, extraordinary cinematography and the vision of a filmmaker who has the ability to combine images and emotions into a funny, melancholic and deep film. But, as I said before, not everyone will appreciate this vision, and some people might find the universe in which Anderson frames this tragicomic farce pretentious. Or they might find the "retro" special effects and the use of models in many exterior scenes (like the observatory in the Alps) ridiculous. I personally found that appropriate, because even the real sized sets look like models in The Grand Budapest Hotel. And that might be the reason why it transmits us the sensation that the characters are toys controlled by a kid with too much imagination in order to let logic and "reality" interfere with his vivacious fantasies. Sure, not too many kids could accompany their games with a perfect score from Alexandre Desplat or with an army of famous actors ready to fill in even the smallest roles just for the sake of being a part of Anderson's game (Was it just me, or did I really see George Clooney for a fraction of second?). In conclusion, I wouldn't consider it an excellent film, but I enjoyed The Grand Budapest Hotel pretty much, and I recommend it to those who want to visit an extravagant universe which is always conscious of its duties as a film.