5/5 great movie. pay attention.
  by jneuberg (San Diego, CA USA)
very typical wes anderson... multi level scenes with very subtle humor/jokes that carry throughout the film.
great movie - didn't really do it for me at first, i have come around.

5/5 Simply outstanding!
  by Compulsive Reader (New York, New York)
Anyone who doesn't rate this film with five stars not only completely lacks a sense of irony, but is deaf to Wes Anderson's poetry. A dry, visually gorgeous and impeccably scripted and acted take on Jacques Cousteau's documentary series, this film is now one of my top five. Ever.

4/5 Love this movie
  by Amy R. Moore
i bought this movie for my husband for father's day since it's his favorite. he loved it and has watched it several times already.
the movie got here quickly and i was pretty happy with everything except that now i get a bunch of emails from amazon.

5/5 Not a cookie-cutter movie but for the kid in of all of us
  by jumpy1 (New York, NY)
I've never felt inside a story so much as I feel watching this film. People have criticized this film a lot but it brings me back to the great kids' adventure shows of the past but with more cynical dialogue and more sophisticated sets. And while Angelica Huston is wonderful in everything, she really cracks me up in his films, she is always a burst of fresh air. Wes's style reminds me of her father's in that he creates seductive environments in order to tell a story - like John Huston did in Moulin Rouge, The Dead, The Maltese Falcon, etc. But Wes seems to let the scenes and dialogue evolve out of that, just letting them be what they are, so that instead of the usual contrived space-filling dialogue, the characters talk and act like I can believe they might actually do given their circumstances. While the story is fantastical it is never fakey.

Heck, I wish the sea creatures and books and movie posters in the film were real, so I could check them out! I love the cartoons, the music, the locales, the characters, the script, and Willem Dafoe is a fantastic treat. He really did steal the show, if that's possible given all the greats in this bunch.

The Criterion edition, with all the extras, almost satisfies my longing for a sequel or a TV show based on these characters.

5/5 Wes Anderson is a genius
  by The Tao of Netflix (Washington, DC)
This movie is a wonderful viewing experience. Wes Anderson has a very distinct flair for storytelling (verbally and visually) that really shine in this movie, far more (IMHO) than his previous films. He does a great job of portraying the resolutely downtrodden - Bill Murray is a bordeline washed up naturalist/film maker, and his despair coupled with immense self contempt coupled with a seething disdain for the human race is brilliantly portrayed. I especially enjoy the camera work, another characteristic of Anderson. He's great at the wide angle shots, often including many actors in a single frame. This seems like a very difficult thing to pull off, but he does so masterfully. Can't say enough.