The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums - ****

From director Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums is a story about redemption, love and dysfunction in a gifted family. It stars a host of A-list celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Danny Glover, Bill Murray and the Wilson brothers. More importantly, it employs a format of storytelling and direction so unique and creative that it hides the film's long runtime. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), upon hearing that his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) is considering an offer of marriage, he attempts to get back in with his family in order to win her back after 23 years of seperation. However, the family he comes back to, including a overcautious businessman (Stiller), a complacent playwright (Paltrow) and a washed up tennis player in love with his adopted sister (Luke Wilson), is apparently not much like the one he left. The family has gone to pieces in his absence, and as the film goes on, he begins to take more accountability on for repairing it. Now as I've already said, what I really like about this film is its creativity. Creativity out of Wes Anderson and his writing partner Luke Wilson won't come at all as a surprise to anyone who has seen his first movie, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou looks to be much the same. Fantastic performances and a strong creative team make this a very good movie. Thumbs up.