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There is a moment in Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" when the title character (effortlessly played by Bill Murray) is desperately trying to convince his supposed son Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson) that he--Steve Zissou--had dibs on a sexy, pregnant reporter (Cate Blanchett) who is documenting their sea voyage. Ned insists that Steve misspoke during an earlier exchange: "No, you said "Not this one Klaus."" Steve pauses for a second, levels his eyebrows and quips: "So you heard me."

It is precisely this sort of fleeting, way-under-the-radar humor that permeates throughout Anderson's grossly misplaced "Life Aquatic." Such a negative backlash began with the initial reception for this film that it plagued Anderson's subsequent filmography (a short named "Hotel Chevalier" and the feature "The Darjeeling Limited") with the misfortune of never being placed in the same universe of his "Royal Tenenbaums" or "Rushmore." So why bring "Life Aquatic" up now? We are on the eve (literally less than a week away) from the theatrical premiere of Anderson's latest opus: a stop motion Roald Dahl adaptation named "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

So in the world of film discussion/criticism/deconstruction, today is a watershed moment for the Anderson rhetoric. And you know what? "Life Aquatic" gets richer with every viewing.

I'll admit that when I first saw "Life Aquatic" I too was less than blown away. Of course, coming off the career highlight that was and still is "Royal Tenenbaums" (Anderson's sole Oscar nomination to date) the only way Anderson was going to top himself was by ______________ (I honestly don't know how). So in the first defense for "Life Aquatic" it had a hell of a cross to bear already.

Anyone reading this UNDERRATED SERIES piece is surely very familiar with this film (why else are you reading an online blog entry featuring a shirtless Bill Murray at the top?) and probably savors the movie as well. We know, as with most of Anderson's work, that "Life Aquatic" deals with the father/son dilemma and that painful search for familial identity--and more importantly acceptance. By the end of the film we learn that Ned Plimpton is not Steve's biological son ("Steve shoots blanks") but in the wacky, aqua-antics Zissou universe that scientific fact is irrelevant. After their eventful at sea odyssey, the relationship between supposed son and loner father reaches profound truths. Ned was and will endure in memory as Steve's son.  For a film steeped in hordes of science perhaps the biggest punchline the film offers is that sometimes one's real (or preferred) family is not of blood relation. In a way, by Steve Zissou accepting Ned Plimpton into his family (even after death) Anderson is sort of answering another desperate plea by a character he created in "Tenenbaums": Eli Cash (also played by Wilson). Who doesn't remember Cash's quietly brutal confession of "I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum" in that film?

But the resonance in the closing chapters of "Life Aquatic" is only half the picture. Charlie Kaufman explained in an interview regarding his "Synedoche, New York" that he tried creating a film that more resembled live theatre rather than an absolute movie. Kaufman said most movies were "dead." When watching live theatre, on the other hand, you never see the same performance twice. You can watch the same play over and over but each time your experience will be different. Kaufman does achieve it in "Synedoche."

And like Kaufman, Anderson achieves it in "Life Aquatic." In every scene, there are so many wheels turning, from the humor in the subtext of the screenplay to the massive set pieces involving multiple speaking parts, the film is seldom settled or still. By packing each frame of the film with such detail (a trademark of his) Anderson on the surface manages to make "Aquatic" look like his other films. Yet because his themes of loss and acceptance aren't as immediately clear in this picture, repeated viewings only enhance the film's relevance and payoff.  And when watching a DVD at home can be as inspired and exhilarating as watching live theatre unfold before your eyes, well that's pretty extraordinary. And if you roll your eyes at this feat, well allow me to quote Steve Zissou in Anderson's defense: "I mean, obviously people are going to think I'm a showboat, and a little bit of a prick. But then I thought... that's me. I said those things, I did those things. I can live with that."