I can’t fault it too much because the style, the substance, and even the experience were of thorough quality and generally enjoyable, but really just too over-filled and florid for me. I am too weak to truly lash out at it and chastise the film as “poor” or even “simply average”, for the entertainment and skill with which Wes Anderson brings to all his projects is there, I just don’t think the film really worked for me on the whole.
If you want an Anderson film, you get it, but in a gluttonous gorging. Like the sweetest of deserts piled one upon another, in rapid succession, until the overindulgent nosher nauseates themselves on such delights. It is uber-Andersonian; too cute by half to the point of disconnection. The presentation is inventive and exhilarating, but devolved into casual garishness; art for empty art-sake. The characters, situations, dialogue - it’s less ratatat machine pistol fun and more Gatling gun exorbitant excess. Dizzying and diletant, there was just too much all the time.
You will never find a better game piece for 7 degrees of separation because EVERYONE is in this film - they are all excellent with Jeffrey Wright getting a welcome opportunity to knock it out of the park.
The film experience, no matter how overstuffed, over-embellished, or burstingly loquacious, elementally it was a staggering achievement and an all-together lovely film experience. Undeniably amusing but a veer off into belligerent navel gazing self aggrandizement and uber niche acceleration down the road away from my Andersonian loveville.