An interesting part of The Life Aquatic is its use of what looks to be very badly done computer animation but really is stop-motion animation. Taylor Jessen explains in this interview with Henry Selick, who creates stop-motion animated films and was in charge of The Life Aquatic's sea creatures. When Steve Zissou and his comrades go diving, they don't find normal marine life. They encounter red seaweed and bizarre creatures, Bill Murray even at one point flicking a little yellow gecko off of his hand.
Granted, the whole thing is rather pointless, as it contributes nil to the plot of the movie, but it offers an interesting, unorthodox set of visuals. It, however, seems to overpower the storyline. The movie isn't supposed to be a science fiction, so what's the point? It confused me, but I guess I'm not complaining, as it didn't really detract from the movie other than being distracting.
Wes Anderson's style really comes through in this movie. It has Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, dark humor, romance, swearing, and completely unnecessary, random, and pointless nudity (the posters in Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore along with the crew member in Life Aquatic). Something I also noticed was that Anderson tends to use a little bit of slow-motion in each of his films. As far as I can see, it doesn't really contribute much to the films, but it's just a little quirk of his. The best unique part of his movies, however, is his off-the-wall moments of absurd humor. In The Life Aquatic, the crew members install radios into their helmets and listen to techno while diving. They keep retarded dolphins with cameras on their heads as scouts. The best part of the movie, however, is a 60+ year old Bill Murray taking down about 50 armed pirates alone with a single pistol all while avoiding even the slightest injury (Indiana Jones comes to mind). He even does this twice.
