The Royal Tenenbaums (DVD)

Ever since having read a few reviews on this site, I have been intrigued by this film and it has been on my 'to watch' list! It has an excellent cast who promise a lot, with an interesting storyline, and I have to say, after having now watched it, I found it very enjoyable. The film tells the story of the Tenenbaum family, the head of which is Royal Tenenbaum, plyed by Gene Hackman. I say he's the head of the family, but he actually walked out on them when they were all growing up and hasn't seen them for many years. The film shows what happens, when this now very dysfunctional family, get back together again. What made this film enjoyable for me ...  Read the complete review

For those unhappy few of us who were left cold by the fluffy fairy-tale optimism of 'Amelie' comes the astringent antidote, another tale of a naïve outsider attempting to right wrongs in a bizarre, hyperreal world. But 'The Royal Tenenbaums' is not a jolly effects-enhanced adventure, sprinkled with magic. This is a tale of dysfunctional families, betrayal, loneliness, selfishness, vague hints of incest, and suicide. And it is one of the funniest, and maybe the best film I have seen in years. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) is old, lonely, and broke, and so he returns to the family he abandoned to see if he can put a roof over his head. Royal's ...  Read the complete review

‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ documents the lives of the film’s eponymous ‘hero’ and his estranged family of former child prodigies, who barely cope with their miserable lives in the knowledge that their various talents have all been squandered in their adulthood. The film commences with a brief abstract look at the experiences of the family members up to that point. Sharp and witty, it is reminiscent of the fast-paced beginning of ‘Amelie’, and encapsulates each family member’s personality through one or two defining moments in their history. Royal (Gene Hackman) and Etherline (Angelica Huston) are the parents ...  Read the complete review

Take a first-rate cast: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Houston, Danny Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray. Add a reasonably well-known director: Wes Anderson. Throw in two experienced comedy screenwriters: Anderson (again) and Wilson (again). Set them to work on a premise with limitless comic, tragic and dramatic possibilities: The Tenenbaums are a rich and eccentric family of geniuses who have fallen upon hard times and become estranged, until the father (Hackman) sees the light and attempts to reunite the family and make amends for his many shortcomings, the consequences of which have been visited upon his children. What can go wrong? ...  Read the complete review

Wes Anderson, also director of “Bottle Rocket”, and “Rushmore”, has an unmistakable directing style. It has been likened to that of Orson Welles. Now, whether he’s truly comparable to Orson Welles is arguable, but I can understand why Anderson’s often metioned in the same breath. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is full of movie references, and in-jokes – and may come across as obsessive, but in a way that I like. It’s set in what is a very unreal world, in many ways – in what turns out to be very minor ways – it could almost be a parallel universe where just one little deviation set off a series ...  Read the complete review