The Royal Tenenbaums (DVD)

...others just don't get what the hype is all about.

I had asked around which of his movies was the best, to get me introduced to his movies and the one title that I kept hearing from friends and online was The Royal Tenenbaums. I had heard that it did get critical acclaim, being nominated for an Oscar in the category of 'Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen' in 2002 (it was also nominated for and won other awards, ...
...this and having not seen the movie before, I knew I was intrigued to give it a shot and see what I'd think, also knowing that, like his other movies turn out to be, its a pretty dark comedy, I was a bit wary that I might not really enjoy it because I'm not that big a fan of really dark comedy in general.

Anyway I managed to get a second hand copy of the 2 disc collectors edition DVD set some months back and I first watched it back ... more

- Introduction -
After becoming a fan of Owen Wilson through his appearance in films like Shanghai Noon & Shanghai Knights and researching his filmography, as some people will know I started to watch his director friend Wes Anderson's movies too, as Owen often appears in them. Now there's quite a divide with Wes' films I feel, in that some people really like them and others just don't get what the hype is all about.

I had asked around which of his movies was the best, to get me introduced to his movies and the one title that I kept hearing from friends and online was The Royal Tenenbaums. I had heard that it did get critical acclaim, being nominated for an Oscar in the category of 'Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen' in 2002 (it was also nominated for and won other awards, see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265666/awards for full details).

Knowing this and having not seen the movie before, I knew I was intrigued to give it a shot and see what I'd think, also knowing that, like his other movies turn out to be, its a pretty dark comedy, I was a bit wary that I might not really enjoy it because I'm not that big a fan of really dark comedy in general.

Anyway I managed to get a second hand copy of the 2 disc collectors edition DVD set some months back and I first watched it back then but I was left feeling a bit confused about it and I didn't think at the time I could write a decent review of it. Since then, I've been re-watching some movies during the holidays and I decided to give this another watch last night. Now I feel ready to review it.

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265666/fullcredits)
Director - Wes Anderson
Writers - Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Producers - Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel, Scott Rudin,
Associate Producer - Will Sweeney
Executive Producers - Rudd Simmons, Owen Wilson
Cinematography - Robert D. Yeoman (director of photography)

- Story (incl. main acting cast) -

I'd just like to start by saying that although it seems that I go into quite a bit of detail here, don't worry I don't really give away the whole movie, there is quite alot to it and there aren't any real spoilers as such.

The Royal Tenenbaums is all about the Tenenbaum family, a well-off family who have 3 child prodigies. The movie starts with the father Royal (played by Gene Hackman), whos shown as being a rather rotten father at the very start of the movie, when he trashes the play of his adopted daughter on her birthday and we're told that he's never been allowed to attend another birthday party again. Then each of the other Tenenbaums and their personalities are introduced and explained in some detail - Margot (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is an adopted child (who was adopted when she was about 2) and was a very successful playwright as a child and is quite a secretive person, Chas (played by Ben Stiller) was a real estate (estate agent) whiz as a teenager and now has twin sons, Ari and Uzi and his wife was killed in a plane crash a year or so ago, making him quite paranoid and very protective of them. Then there's Richie (played by Luke Wilson), who was a professional tennis player as a teen but has since stopped playing, as all the Tenenbaums have drifted apart as they grew older. There's also the character of Eli Cash (played by Owen Wilson), a family friend who has his own issues and was often seen hanging out with the Tenenbaum kids.

As the movie moves on, we learn that Etheline had not legally divorced Royal, although they had lived apart for many years now but when he finds out that Etheline is thinking about accepting a marriage proposal from her accountant, Henry Sherman (played by Danny Glover), he decides, worrying about the future, that he wants to keep more of an eye on the family, feeling that he wants to have his family back.

When he encounters Etheline on the street, he explains this and that he wants to come back and be with them all again and announces that he's dying. Word gets out to all the Tenenbaum prodigies and slowly they all meet up and go back to staying at their childhood home, where they hadn't been seen living together in some 17 years and where their now terminally ill father Royal is staying.

Royal, wanting to spend some time and to connect with his kids, offers from excursions and quality time with them, which they all take differently and use the time they have together as a family and between the children, to analyse and philosophise on what happened to drive them apart in the past and what went wrong.

The movie explores these characters in some detail and is about the many relationships forged between them all and the reflection on the past.

Your left wondering if Royal will be able to connect and pass on his knowledge to all of his children and grandchildren in time and what will happen as they get to know each other again, what secrets do they have? this is the story behind The Royal Tenenbaums.

- Genre/Themes etc. -
This movie features many of the usual genre and themes of a Wes Anderson movie. Its a quite dark (though, somewhat funnily, pretty colourful, visually speaking) comedy that covers the usual themes of dysfunctional family life and the analysis of this and how being a child prodigy can affect you in later life, to some degree, I suppose. Also of course there's the theme of forgiveness, for the children to try and forgive their father, who quite clearly was far less than perfect and a theme of trying to re-gain a family identity.

The theme/issue of suicide is also also touched upon in this movie.

- My Thoughts/Opinions and Other Info. -
Being a fan of the director, Wes Anderson, of whom this is his third movie and arguable his most successful, I notice alot of similarities to his other movies, any fan of the director will easily recognise his work. The characters in this movie, like all of his movies, are what you could term as delightfully quirky.

Somewhat similarly to Rushmore (Wes Andersons' second movie), the movie is narrated (by Alec Baldwin) in part and the movie is shown as being like a re-enactment or a real life reconstruction of a book, whereby each new part of the story is shown briefly as the first page of a chapter in a book. It has the usual 'artsy' feel that Wes' movies display, with the main theme being one thats present in pretty much all of his movies, of dysfunctional family members and their relationships, fears and flaws.

The narration I feel is quite cleverly done, at particular intervals, you do feel as if your watching some kind of a quirky, colourful play.

The film also features a good soundtrack, with tracks dotted here and there, the usual sort of 60s rock and roll/indie tracks that add a bit of flavour to it (including tracks from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones and The Clash).

The humour is very black and dry, as is to be expected from a Wes Anderson film. There are some funny moments, typically short, quirky and sometimes touching happenings that perhaps you can relate to and in so should make you smirk or titter but probably not a great deal more. The dialogue is quite sharp and I felt that the script backed it up well.

This is the sort of movie thats quirky and touching but mostly very dark in substance and story and you can get sucked into it, into these quite deeply portrayed characters, their situations and environment, relationships and struggles, thats what its about really and whether they can re-connect.

So just to ensure I make it clear, don't be expecting riotous slapstick humour here, or you'll be disappointed, its not that kind of movie, though Owen does tend to appear in such movies, Wes' movies aren't the same, these are much deeper and darker movies. I think its good to see him get to be involved in such movies though, it definately does show that he has more depth and can portray more complicated characters, like Eli Cash, though he isn't one of the more featured character, he does definately still have a part to play in this movie, as somewhat of a lost soul you could say (similar to the other characters he plays in Wes' other movies I suppose).

I do feel that particularly noteable are the performances of Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow, as Richie and Margot Tenenbaum, who feature quite heavily in the movie. They both put on great performances I felt, portraying characters with some complicated issues.

I think with Wes' movies, like I touched on earlier, its a case of either you love or hate them (kind of like Marmite, only you can't spead it on toast lol! ok thats random but true!), either you 'get' them and can feel yourself becoming more 'sucked into' the movies and becoming more intrigued and interested in the characters and want to know where their issues stem from and what will happen to them and so on and you enjoy the artistry and get taken away into the world of these quirky and flawed characters. Other people see these films differently and think that their just rather boring, depressing and rather pretentious. I'm sure it doesn't appeal to everyone and I think people should have some kind of background knowledge on what his movies are about (roughly) and the type of 'comedy' they feature, before sitting down to watch them really, or you could be quite disappointed, having seen it in the wrong way, if this makes sense... but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and having seen other reviews on this movie, I'm quite aware that there are others who aren't so keen on it.

I do feel like in some ways it is possible to relate to these characters, in so much as that they are flawed and have made mistakes and struggle as a less than perfect family in ways; which im sure others will have some sort of experience of.

The ending I felt is also somewhat poignant and satisfactory, it does have quite a good twist at the end and you are left with some open ended questions, in that way it is kind of curiously thought provoking.

- Certificate -
The Royal Tenenbaums is rated 15 in the UK. This is due to some bad language, brief nudity and sexuality and some (though not much) drug content. There is also a scene with some blood and, not meaning to give too much of a spoiler but basically its a suicide attempt scene, just to warn parents or anyone who may be affected by seeing such a scene, as mentioned under Genre/Themes, there is an element of this present in the movie, though I won't say who it is or what the outcome is, so hopefully this isn't too much of a spoiler.

I can't remember there being too much bad language, only the odd use, so its not too bad. I wouldn't recommend the movie for young teens or children anyway as it is quite adult (not as in pornographic or anything but as in the story itself and the issues covered) and if you were under 15 I think it might well just confuse or bore you, so I agree with the rating from that side of things too.

- DVD -
The 2 disc collectors edition film DVD offers subtitles in English, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Dutch and its presented in 2.40:1 widescreen format.

It contains the following special features on the 2nd disc, which is dedicated entirely to special features (the 1st disc only contains the movie, with scene selection and the ability to choose subtitles for use while watching the movie options):-

- Scrapbook - Here you can choose from stills, storyboards, murals and covers. The murals are quirky drawings, drawn by Richie Tenenbaum as a kid.

- With the Filmmaker - A documentary featurette behind the scenes of the making of the film. This lasts 25 minutes.

- Cut scenes - There's only a few of these, I didn't find them so interesting and this lasts 1 minute 45 in total.

- Trailers - The trailers for the movie as shown around the world

- Interviews - You can select which cast members interview you want to watch as they discuss the movie and their role etc. all the main Tenenbaum character cast is here.

- The Peter Bradley show - The full interview show thats shown in brief during the movie. This lasts 14 minutes 20.

I quite like that the menu screens on the DVD are illustrations of walls, candles and so on, the options on screen like with the scrapbook section are shown as drawings of paintings on a wall, presumably linked to Richie Tenenbaum's drawings, as mentioned in the movie and that you can see in the scrapbook section of the special features disc. Its another quirk but I thought it was quite interesting. I did a search online and it seems that these illustrations were done by the brother of the director, called Eric.

- Official Website -
There isn't an official website for the movie, that I could find anyway. However, you can find more info., reviews, photos, quotes and more linked to the movie, on the IMDB entry for the movie, which you can find here:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265666/

- Conclusions -
This is a film that isn't for everyone but for those that like Wes' movies and sort of let themselves be taken by the story, they should definately enjoy it. Its got an artsy feel to it, as do all of Wes' movies and there's just something kind of special there.

I would also like to add that I realise this movie does feature a great cast who add alot to it, particularly, as I've already mentioned, Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow, whos performances I felt were very good.

This is a quirky dark comedy that is, ironically, quite colourful, visually speaking. Its a film that perhaps, a bit like me, you'll have to re-watch a couple of times or more to really 'get' or understand completely but it is good and I would recommend seeing it.

I do find it quite hard to explain these movies properly I feel, though im not biased and do mention everything that I can think of both on the positive and negative side of these movies. I do also find it hard to explain quite what it is about these kind of movies, Wes' movies, what the 'it' is that I do seem to find quite so special or good. It is true to say that certainly before a year or so ago, I was never keen on dark comedies and would avoid anything too depressing and this could be seen as being a pretty depressing movie but I do also feel that there is some kind of element of redemption and of hope thats somehow there as well, which makes it possibly not so bad(?) and for anyone who maybe thinks this, I don't think its just because Owen has an input into these movies and appears in them, that I like them. I'll gladly say if I feel a movie is really bad, check my other reviews I have recently slated at least one movie this week so thats should prove that. There is something about Wes' movies that I just seem to connect to and find fascinating. There does seem to be some element of real quality and the scripts and performances do seem to be very good, in my opinion and without those it would be a totally different story (well with a totally different script it'd have to be a totally different story, hah lol).

Its true his movies are quite artsy and may be seen as being somewhat snobbish, I suppose, but I don't really see them in that way, I think there is a good quality about them that 'normal' people shouldn't feel is so pretentious that they couldn't enjoy it. I'm not someone who's had a particularly privileged background but I enjoy the movies and still feel I have an interest in the characters enough to want to see what happens and stick with the movies until the end. Anyway I don't know how else I can explain it but I enjoy his movies and I didn't think I would, so maybe you might do too.

The only difference for me, personally, when it comes to this movie compared to Wes' others, was that after the first viewing, I felt a bit confused and possibly let down. I wasn't really familiar with Wes' work when I first saw it, I think after the first viewing I felt it was a bit too depressing and I felt somewhat confused about it too and thought there was, in a way, too much going on to make it a movie I felt I could review at the time. Now I've watched it again, I do feel differently, having seen all of Wes' other movies and I think I do appreciate it more now, so I would say that, especially if this is only the first or second Wes Anderson movie you may have seen, be aware that it might take a couple of viewings to really 'get' it, so to speak, if you'll give it that chance. I did and I'm glad I did, I did quite enjoy my second viewing of it and so I'm rating it as 4 out of 5 stars, as I now do quite like the movie.

Wes and Owen were both nominated at the Oscars for the movie, as I've also mentioned previously and that tells you that its recognised as being good, so I say although this movie might not be for everyone, that you give it a try. Its possible to buy the DVD pretty cheaply now, as its a good few years old (it was originally released in 2001), so if you can get your hands on this for a few quid, then its worth getting, I wouldn't pay too much incase it doesn't really work for you but it might take a couple of watches to really, fully 'get' it, so in that way it is worth getting it on DVD. I managed to get this 2 disc collectors edition for under £5 so I reckon for that price, its worth the risk and the special features are all good, I feel that it was a good purchase for the price.

I hope you found my review useful in deciding whether to see the movie/buy the DVD, thanks for reading! 

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