Skip to main content
Close

Top 10 Wes Anderson Films (Features and Shorts)

By Alec Siegel · June 26, 2014

Stories can be told through a multitude of mediums: on stage at the theatre, on screen at the movies, on a page for a novel, and through song, among others. And then there’s a Wes Anderson story. Anderson’s stories come to life through film, technically, but include the costume, the invention and the set pieces of theatre. His films are novelistic as well, using chapter headings (that yellow font) and clear act breaks. And they’re musical. Watching a Wes Anderson film is like watching opera, theatre, and film all at once. His imagination has been un-tarnished since childhood, and he carefully projects the worlds and characters in his head onto the screen. This is a list of the only ten films (two are shorts) of Anderson’s young career, from worst to best. The worst material he dreams up is still 99% fresher than any other movie on the market, however.

 

10. Hotel Chevalier (2007)

This short premiered about six weeks prior to Anderson’s fifth feature, The Darjeeling Limited. It serves as both a prelude to the Darjeeling story and as a fleshing out of a short story that Jason Schwartzman’s Jack writes during the duration of that film. Schwartzman plays the main character here, where he’s yet to be named Jack, as a man who’s hiding from love. That is, until a former flame (Natalie Portman) finds him bunking out in a Paris hotel. It’s got superb character depth for a short, and the intrigue surrounding the two lovers leaves me salivating for a prequel to the prequel. Please, Mr. Anderson?

 

9. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Sugar crabs, Rhinestone fish, Crayon sea ponies and Jaguar sharks are just part of the invented world that inhibit Anderson’s The Life Aquatic. It’s his first film to share writing credits with Noah Baumbach and his parodode (part parody, part ode) to the French diver, Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The Life Aquatic is a father/son story told under the guise of a revenge premise, with Zissou (Bill Murray) and his motley crew and recently discovered son Ned (Owen Wilson) hunting for the creature that killed their former crew member. Like most of Anderson’s films, the characters, humor and sense of wonder take precedent over the story. This film has all of his usual charm, it’s just not quite as strong as the rest of his work. It’s the least funny of his films, and his characters are the drabbest of the drab (for a Wes Anderson film, that’s saying something). Regardless of its faults, The Life Aquatic is still a joy to watch.

 

8. Castello Cavalcanti (2013)

The second and final short on this list, Castello Cavalcanti is crisp and meticulous, an 8-minute homage to Italian cinema and culture that was not surprisingly financed by Prada. Jason Schwartzman plays Jed Cavalcanti, an American Formula One driver who not only finds himself in last place during a race, but also in his ancestral village in Italy. A Schwartzman acted character delivering Wes Anderson composed dialogue is cinema’s version of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and the duo’s chemistry is heightened here due to the lack of English speaking supporting characters. Let’s hope Anderson decides to make this one a prelude to something greater, as he did with numbers ten and six on this list.

 

7. Bottle Rocket (1996)

As an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, Wes Anderson hit the jackpot in the roommate lottery: Owen Wilson. The pair co-wrote Anderson’s debut feature, Bottle Rocket, and would go on to collaborate in some capacity on seven of Anderson’s films. Their first is a hilarious tale about a couple of bored rich kids who dream of Danny Ocean level heists, only to wind up with one of them falling in love with a Spanish speaking maid and another in jail. Bottle Rocket is full of foreshadowing for what’s to come for Anderson’s career: oddball characters, emotional situations played with little emotion for comical effect, and a wonderful Mark Mothersbaugh (the Devo front man and composer of the Rugrats theme song) score and soundtrack.

 

6. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

India is a spiritual place, a beautiful place full of ancient customs and a vibrant culture. What better setting to re-connect with your brothers, your mother, and yourself? When Anderson set out to make his fifth film, he initially only knew few things about it: There would be a train, it would be set in India, and involve the story of three brothers. The Darjeeling Limited, the result of these fractured elements, is sad and funny, a family drama and a spiritual awakening. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman play the three brothers in convincing fashion, as the three are both the anchors and troublemakers of a dysfunctional family. Anderson’s films always have a unique tone and feel, and The Darjeeling Limited is a one of a kind journey.

 

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

His films often pull from some pretty obscure inspirations, and for his most recent film, Anderson draws from the writings of Austrian Stefan Zweig. It’s the meatiest story of any of Anderson’s films, a story told in flashback form about a hotel concierge (Ralph Fiennes) who in the fictional European state of Zubrowka during the 1930's is embroiled in an art theft and a murder. Unlike many of his other stories, this one moves along quite briskly, as it’s powered by both story and character. Ralph Fiennes’s Gustave is one of Anderson’s most memorable characters, and the film has its share of cameos from Anderson favorites as well. The hotel itself might be Wes’ World’s most intricate set piece. Also, Anderson apparently made an entirely animated version of the film as a blueprint, with him voicing each character on his own, which will hopefully be released in the future.

 

4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

There’s a uniquely childish quality about Anderson’s film worlds, none more so than that of Moonrise Kingdom. As a writer and director and true film visionary, Anderson is like an uninhibited child who still colors out of the lines but has mastered all the particular crafts of filmmaking. This film is his boy scout love fantasy come to life. It’s colorful and inventive; there are wholly invented books and maps and locations in the film. Sam and Suzy (played by newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) are young and in love, and find refuge from their cynical adult guardians in the fictional hideout that takes its name form the film’s title. The quirks that Anderson’s characters all have are perhaps most fit and believable when written for children, and Moonrise Kingdom is a children’s story dreamt up by the most childish man of all.

 

3. Rushmore (1998)

The setting for Rushmore, a fictional prep school in Texas, is based on the prep school that brothers Owen (a co-writer of the film), Luke and Andrew Wilson attended in their youth. Jason Schwartzman is hilarious as Max Fischer, an ambitious yet academically challenged youth that befriends then becomes mortal enemies with a 50-year-old millionaire and falls in love with a widowed elementary school teacher. The action, emotion and humor all center around Fischer, as he represents the rebel within all of us. The adults in Rushmore are as immature as the prep school teens, and Bill Murray is wonderful as Fisher’s friend and foil, millionaire Herman Blume.

 

2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

The Tenenbaum family in Anderson’s third film is the modern American family to the extreme: all three children are supremely gifted (one is a tennis champion, another is a math genius and the third a successful playwright), the father, Royal (Gene Hackman), is self-absorbed and not quite present in the lives of his wife and children. Anderson’s knack for turning emotional situations into emotion-less ones is on full tilt here, and the results are both hysterical and depressing. The soundtrack is great and the cast is spot on, especially Gene Hackman as the family patriarch. Anderson and Owen Wilson co-wrote the script, which is their third consecutive and so far final script together.

 

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of those films I wish never had an ending. In a perfect world, it would be an 8-hour event. The stop-animation is gorgeous, the characters (mostly small mammals and rodents and a few evil humans) are funny and charming, and the story is fast paced and fresh. Based on a Roald Dahl novel of the same name, Mr. Fox is never dull, and each scene packs in details and flourishes that reveal themselves after repeat viewings. The voice acting comes courtesy of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman and many more of Anderson usual’s, and all do a fantastic job. Each Wes Anderson film is a standalone, unique project, and his first animated film is no exception. He’s a perfectionist with his craft, and Mr. Fox comes damn near close to perfect.