The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

A disappointingly uneven effort from Wes Anderson, whose instincts were nearly flawless in “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Here, Bill Murray plays Zissou, a Jacques Cousteau-like explorer whose career has fallen on hard times. He mounts one more expedition, accompanied by his distinctive crew. The cast is great, and individual scenes stand out, but the movie never quite finds its voice, and probably would have benefited from tighter editing. Some of the more whimsical touches don't really work, and Anderson seems to have been a little too enamored of his characters' idiosyncrasies; he should have been as tough on them as they are on themselves.