I put off watching this for a long time, since I just wasn’t sure it was the style of Anderson’s films that I like. Turned out it was TOTALLY the style I like, and now it’s my second favorite after Moonrise Kingdom. For the record, Asteroid City looks to be 1000 times my style of Wes Anderson.
(If you’re wondering, Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums are not my style of Was Anderson. Both good movies, but overrated and not zany enough.)
Yes, my first Anderson film was Rushmore, and I just loved it so much. I had never seen anything like it, and it felt truly special. And then I saw Bottle Rocket and was really put off because it felt too similar to me, and it wasn’t as good. But that kind of made sense, I guess. Someone made a movie, and the first attempt was not as good, so he tried again and did much better. But then I saw Darjeeling and even that felt too similar to me, and I now I was really turned off. It lowered Rushmore in my esteem because it didn’t feel as special anymore.
But then I saw Fantastic Mr Fox that has a similar zaniness, but very different type of story and look and feel, and I loved it. And now Grand Budapest felt NOTHING like Rushmore, which just made me so happy. Now Anderson is really up in my esteem, so I’m going to watch the rest of his movies if I can. I was just afraid after Bottle Rocket and Darjeeling that they would all be Rushmore remakes, sort of.
My issue with Rushmore (and Bottle Rocket, which I rewatched recently, and maybe Tenenbaums–been quite awhile now since I’ve seen it) is that I think it’s less than the sum of its parts. Fun characters, a lot of great scenes and moments, but not much else and not as satisfying as it should be by the end. Again, not saying it’s not a good movie, but I adore his wilder stuff.
I was sort of a love sick teenager when I saw Rushmore, so it really spoke to me.
Oooh, thanks for the reminder! I might have to rewatch now.
Budapest Hotel is definitely my number 2 Wes Anderson film, only behind Moonrise Kingdom. Ralph Fiennes is so good in this (as is Tony Revolori)
Moonrise Kingtom really didn’t work for me, but I should revisit it. For whatever reason, Wes Anderson films seem to take me two viewings to click.