If you were to ask me who my favorite director of all time is, the answer is undoubtedly Wes Anderson. There are so many incredible directors, but the immensity of Anderson’s style continues to place him at the top of my list. He has slowly become more and more stylized throughout his filmography, and with it, his work has become more and more charming. Wes Anderson loves style and comedy, but underneath the outlandish plots and character are lessons about the importance of family, friendships, and reconciliation in all areas of life.

Bottle Rocket (1996)

Bottle Rocket is the first Wes Anderson film. Owen Wilson, involved in every Wes Anderson film, is particularly fantastic and funny in his role as delusional kleptomaniac, Dignan. From hilariously uneventful or completely failed heists to quirky, nonsensical romances, this film is completely enjoyable. The chemistry on screen between Luke and Owen Wilson is fantastic. It makes sense since they’re brothers. However, it is definitely worth noting and it’s quite the shame that Luke hasn’t been in the most recent Anderson films.

Along with being Anderson’s first film, it is also his least stylized. The actors move more freely and deliver their lines with a wider range of easily noticeable emotions. There are also less wide shots, less knolling (the process of arranging related objects in parallel or 90-degree angles), less symmetry, and so on. Yet the stylized shots that are present are greatly enjoyable like the one above. Anderson’s career will become famous for shots like these along with usage of clear, saturated, and unique color palettes; handmade art; slow motion walking or running shots, tableau shots and much more. But in Bottle Rocket, we get a simpler view of Anderson films and I think there is a lot of value in that.

This movie has a moral for sure, but it is a less in your face message than films like Royal Tenenbaums or Darjeeling Limited. In the future of Anderson’s career, we get to go much deeper into the importance of making peace with yourself and with others. I think in Bottle Rocket, Anderson focuses on letting go of the past and not letting it define who you are. Every character is holding on to some baggage and in the end, they are able to let go of that weight and truly move on and be happy.

Rushmore (1998)

Oh boy, Rushmore is a super great movie. It’s the first Wes Anderson film for both Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. Murray actually has appeared in every single film since this one, and Schwartzman falls just one film short. Schwartzman’s role as the angstiest of all 15 year olds, Max Fischer, is my favorite comedy role I’ve seen, and plays a big part in making him one of my all-time favorite actors. This is one of the best examples of a great comedy film and I will always come back to it for a good laugh and then some.

Style is slightly more of a focal point in this film compared to Bottle Rocket. We start to see a few more tropes of Anderson’s style but it isn’t anywhere close to the level we will get familiar with in his more recent career. For example, there is a clear color palette but they are darker and more natural than in most of his later films. As far as acting goes, it is slightly more controlled than Bottle Rocket, yet the freedom that they have in their delivery of lines is something that I wish was there in some of his later films (Moonrise Kingdom and Grand Budapest Hotel especially). When the actors have the room to show more emotion in their dialogue, we are much more easily immersed into the story. That’s not to say that Anderson’s later films aren’t great, because they are. It’s just something from his older films that I really appreciate.

Rushmore has three main lessons. The first is about finding what is most important to you in life. In the beginning of the film Max says to Bill Murray’s character, Herman Blume, “I guess you’ve just gotta find something you love to do and then do it for the rest of your life. For me, it’s going to Rushmore.” This is true, but the second lesson comes when the two are both unrequitedly in love with the same woman. Blume, completely depressed, says to Max, “She’s my Rushmore,” to which Max replies, “I know. She was mine too.” It’s really easy to be unaware of the feelings of others and to misjudge how crucial to you life certain places or relationships are.

Sometimes life just throws things at you that are unexpected. Both Blume and Max lose things they care about in this movie. Dealing with that can be very difficult. Sometimes you react angrily and can severely hurt those around you. Because of this, the third lesson of the film is about the importance of reconciling with the people you’ve hurt out of anger. In times of hardship, it is crucial to take a step back and examine how you’ve acted. Max and Blume eventually both do this and are able to make peace with the people around them and with each other. Anderson loves to remind us that reconciling with those we have hurt is important and always worth it, even if it’s not easy to do.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

This movie hits hard. And, oh my word, it is so worth the emotional rollercoaster it puts you on. I only saw this film for the first time this month, and I’m still not over it. The Royal Tenenbaums has the most in-depth characters out of any Wes Anderson film. Owen Wilson co-wrote the first three of Anderson’s films, and in my opinion, writing with Owen Wilson works super well for Wes Anderson’s films. Royal Tenenbaums will make you laugh and cry and everything in between. There is also some great music in this movie. It has two tracks from Nico’s Chelsea Girl, Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” and a few songs from The Rolling Stone’s album, Between the Buttons. It is truly a fantastic film.

Start bringing in some bright and obvious color palettes to Wes Anderson’s films and add even more stylized shots and we finally have a full picture of Anderson’s unique style. From this point on, Wes slowly becomes a caricature of himself, in a way. He takes all the things that makes him unique and amplifies them. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but this film perfectly finds a balance between emotional and stylized that Wes is yet to return to.

Let’s look at what Wes has to say about reconciliation in this film. Tenenbaums is all about reconciliation within families. There are so many parts of family life that can be difficult. But Royal Tenenbaums intends to tell you that there are very few things that actually make it better to give up on your family members. The emotions in this film are so real. It also features the lesson of accepting who you are. Reconciling with who you are is a very important part in nearly everyone’s lives. Anderson does a phenomenal job of presenting that idea in this film.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

I love this movie, but it might be the only Wes Anderson movie I can actually say something negative about. I love the story and I love most of the characters, but I think that the pacing of the film is off. The only parts that are fully attention-keeping are in the first and last 20 minutes. When Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) sees the jaguar shark finally, he admires it’s beauty which is nice. But, it’s so easy to forget that he originally wanted to kill the jaguar shark because the movie fails to keep the viewer immersed in the story. There are a lot of great moments but there are also a lot of unnecessary ones. So in the end, I think this is my least favorite Wes Anderson film. That being said, I actually would still rate The Life Aquatic very highly. It’s a good film, just not as good as the rest of Anderson’s stuff. And hey, you get to see Bill Murray shamelessly dance in scuba gear, so that’s a plus.

Why is it still a great film to watch? The biggest reason for me is that it is just so pretty. The oceanic color palette, Star Trek inspired uniforms, the incredible soundtrack, and the claymation aquatic life contribute great things to this film. It is about as stylized as Tenenbaums, but the color palette is so wonderful that it makes this film one of his prettiest that Anderson is made. While there are great shots in this film, the music is the highpoint. The soundtrack is largely David Bowie which would be great in itself. But multiple times in the film we get acoustic, Portuguese covers from Seu Jorge. These are amazing because you’ll be listening and think about how you like the music, and then suddenly you’ll realize why it sounds so familiar and be completely surprised. The soundtrack is always one of the best parts of an Anderson film, but it’s the very best part of this one.

This movie is mostly about reconciling with your past and finding joys in the roughest parts of life. Zissou is given the hard task of accepting that he’s ignored and hurt people throughout his life (including his son who he never met until the beginning of the film). He is also completely washed up as a documentary filmmaker. Zissou has to make things right with the people around him that he’s hurt. In doing this, he grows closer with them and grows as an individual. By the end of the movie, the main characters have learned to love life as an adventure. Things will be thrown your way that you won’t expect, but if you look for the joys in these moments and appreciate the people on the journey with you, then you can be happy.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

I love this movie for actually every single thing in it. It’s almost perfect. We also get to see Adrien Brody in a Wes Anderson film, and honestly, he was made for this kind of movie. This film has wonderful, recurring jokes as well as heartwarming, emotional moments. I really enjoy the brotherly bickering in this one. These brothers (played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman) don’t trust each other at first which is such a great template for humor as well as character development.

Orange and blue contrast is everywhere in this film. It’s actually one of my favorite parts of it. The colors evolve alongside the characters. The beginning is blue with a little orange, and after the characters have grown both individually and together, the predominant color is orange and features a little bit of blue. Wes Anderson loves to pan the camera and zoom in quickly from wide shots to much closer ones rather than make any cuts. There are multiple scenes where the actors are sitting in a circle around a camera that is continually rotating to a tableau shot of the actor with the dialogue. It is very fun to watch and makes you feel as though you are there with the characters watching all of the events unfold.

Darjeeling Limited is another film about the importance of family. This time it is about accepting that grief can change you and about reconciling those changes with the people who are most important in your life. These three brothers haven’t seen each other for roughly a year. The last time was at their father’s funeral. Through the chaos of their train journey through India, they start getting very frustrated with one another and almost call it quits on the trip and on each other.

Then by chance, they are on the scene when three young brothers fall into dangerous rapids outside of a small village. They save two but unfortunately lose one of them to the rocks. They walk back to the village with the children and are surprisingly welcomed by the villagers as a blessing for saving the two rather than a curse for losing the one. They attend the funeral, a unique experience to the American brothers, but it has many eerily similar moments to the last time they were together, their father’s funeral. Through this touching moment, they experience a large amount of healing and understand that there is no reason to expect that they would be the same after losing their father. The film reminds us in a different way than in Tenenbaums that family is incredibly important. In the end, the brothers reconcile with each other and have accepted the ways that they have been affected by their grief.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Wes Anderson tries his hand at a full-scale stop motion film in The Fantastic Mr. Fox and it is so fun. It’s great to see Wes Anderson make something that is geared towards children as well as adults. Naturally, the moral of this film is softer and less layered than in some of his other movies, but it is still good. I really enjoy the light-heartedness throughout the film. And just look at how pretty it is! It’s hard to rank this film with rest of Anderson’s work because it is almost a fully different genre, but it is definitely a great movie.

This movie is very stylized. It is the most over-the-top yet in Wes’s career. Every single shot screams Wes Anderson. He styled literally every aspect of it since he was dealing with small set models and clay figures rather than full scale sets and human actors. The almost perfect yet natural symmetry of his shots is beautiful. I really enjoy watching videos about the making of this one because seeing the sets of this film at their actual scale is very interesting. In addition, the color palette perfectly embodies Autumn making it is one of the prettiest of all Anderson films.

So what’s the message? It’s simple this time. Mr. Fox is about owning up to your mistakes. We all make them, and sometimes they affect other people just as much if not more than yourself. It also is about thinking selflessly because selfish actions will hurt the people you care about. The other lesson in this film is found in the character arc of Ash, Mr. Fox’s son. This arc is about accepting yourself even if you feel different and less important than those around you. It is helpful and encouraging and Anderson addresses this in a way that is understandable even for the children watching this one.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Moonrise Kingdom is Anderson’s second newest film. I quite like this one. From charming characters, to Bruce freaking Willis starring in an art flick to outlandish and dramatic moments, Moonrise Kingdom is one of the most endearing of Anderson’s repertoire. I love the cast: Edward Norton is always enjoyable in Anderson’s movies and both of the main child actors are absolute naturals for the Wes style.

Fantastic Mr. Fox was the turning point into incredibly stylized films that are less in depth character-wise, but it doesn’t feel as noticeable because of it’s more childish nature. Moonrise Kingdom is the one where it really hits you that Anderson’s films are now going to be over-the-top stylized art pieces first and foremost. Fun, yet stunning shots like the one above and great landscape shots are found in every moment of the movie. It is because of these things that Moonrise Kingdom is a gorgeous film to behold.

In this film, Wes focuses on a theme to Ash’s story in Fantastic Mr. Fox: accepting yourself for being different. Along with that there are moments about the importance of family (a favorite of Anderson’s). Both Sam and Suzy (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) don’t fit in their respective lives. They decide to plan an escape from their worlds together, and in the process, they fall in love. It’s a funny and touching coming-of-age film with multiple heartwarming moments.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

For a long time, this was my favorite movie I’d ever seen. I say countless lines out loud when watching this film. To me, it’s like an artsy version of movies like Napoleon Dynamite, Princess Bride or Monty Python and the Holy Grail: iconic, hilarious, and super fun to talk along with the dialogue. Yet, it’s still like any other Wes Anderson film, the humor is layered on top of examples of important values to hold in life. These are all reasons why Grand Budapest Hotel is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Cinematographically, this film is a masterpiece. The color palette is immediately apparent from one look at any screenshot. Pastels. Lots of them. There are a lot of purples, reds, pastel blues, and pastel pinks and I think that it’s my favorite color scheme of any movie I’ve ever seen. Nearly every shot is symmetrical to some degree. Wes has always done this in his films, but this time it’s more apparent than ever. The hotel set is intensely colorful and perfectly symmetrical. This lends itself wonderfully to Anderson’s style. There are also multiple, huge, hand-painted backgrounds that are truly amazing. Naturally, this is more a stylistic art piece of a film than anything else. That’s not to say that the comedy and drama aren’t there, but the focal point of the film is undoubtedly the cinematography.

The message in this film deals with two forms of reconciliation: reconciling with your flaws and reconciling with your past. Both of these are important. Gustave (Ralph Feinnes) struggles with his perceived self-worth. His character always puts up a facade that says he is perfect, but in reality he is always working very hard to not let his flaws show. This is added to by the metaphor of him always wearing immense amount of perfume. Throughout the story, he is forced to face his flaws and become comfortable with himself.

As for Zero, he has to reconcile with his troubled past. By no fault of his own, he has been made a broke and homeless refugee who has to make a way for himself without anyone around him that he knows. He is fully lost. He finds a job as the lobby boy at the Grand Budapest Hotel where he works under M. Gustave. Gustave loves Zero as a son and becomes his father figure. Zero also meets Agatha who he falls madly in love with and eventually marries. Through these events, Zero is able to slowly accept and eventually let go of the pains and problems of his past. Grand Budapest may hide the emotions in layers of style and comedy, but if you dig deep enough they are just as present as in any other Wes Anderson’s film.

And Soon… The Isle of Dogs (2018)

Coming March 23rd next year, I could not be more excited for this new film! Anderson returns to stop motion animation for his ninth film. If it’s anything as good as Fantastic Mr. Fox then we are in for a joy of a film! Set in Japan and about dogs with the voices of Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, and probably others, I am very excited for this movie. It is already apparent from the trailer that this movie will be stunning visually if nothing else. I am so ready for another Wes Anderson movie. March couldn’t come any sooner!

Wes Anderson has one of the most distinguishable styles in all of cinema. Throughout his career, he has produced phenomenal characters and stories and wonderfully gorgeous works of art. His propensity to make people think about deeper things in the middle of their laughter is a major part of what makes him my favorite director of all time. If you haven’t watched all of the movies, I strongly suggest you watch them. They will make you laugh and cry and everything in between. You will be left feeling at peace with yourself and deeply appreciative of your whole world from your loved ones to things as small as how nice your coffee was this morning. It takes a lot to make a good movie, but it takes a genius to consistently provide the viewer with films as important and influential as Wes Anderson does.