Wes Anderson: 10 Unpopular Opinions About His Movies, According To Reddit

Wes Anderson is a filmmaker who straddles the line between independent and mainstream. While some of his movies are more accessible than others, all of his movies are meticulously stylized and he has a very distinct voice.

With the release of The French Dispatch, Redditors will surely have plenty to say. For now, there are plenty of unpopular opinions about his filmography, thus far. From his R-rated films like The Royal Tenenbaums to more family-friendly fare like Isle of Dogs, all of Anderson’s movies generate some level of contrarian opinion.

10 Wes Anderson Is The Michael Bay Of Quirky Sentimental Dramedies

Redditor goodsimpleton started off their post by comparing Anderson to Transformers director, Michael Bay. Elaborating, they cited enjoyment for Rushmore, but that’s it. In their words, they feel that Anderson’s movies are “… entertaining enough” but he feels like Anderson makes the same movie repeatedly. The OP then states that Anderson’s movies are nothing but humans being ripped from what they love.

But Anderson has movies like Moonrise Kingdom that have an entirely different premise, with a focus on finding love as opposed to losing it. That film and The Grand Budapest Hotel may have a similar visual style, but they couldn’t be any more different.

9 His Later Stuff Is Better

Most Wes Anderson fans would agree that the auteur hasn’t made anything that could be called a poor piece of filmmaking. In fact, he’s stayed fairly consistent. Early efforts like The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore are every bit as good as his later masterpiece, The Grand Budapest Hotel.

But Typical_Humanoid disagrees, saying, “I’m strongly averse to his early stuff but I don’t know, after Darjeeling he ramped it up and I’ve loved everything since then.” It seems the user prefers Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, the aforementioned Grand Budapest Hotel, and Isle of Dogs. Few would disagree with the merits of those films, but they would probably put his earlier works in the same tier.

8 Bottle Rocket Is His Only Good Film

In a thread harshly named “I hate Wes Anderson movies,” the original poster’s elaboration was as direct as their title. As ChesterBesterTester said, “Well, with one exception. I love Bottle Rocket. I think that’s a truly great movie.” The user then goes on to call the director’s subsequent works pretentious.

There are those who would agree with this but very few would call Bottle Rocket Anderson’s only good film. In fact, it usually tends to fall towards the middle in rankings of the best Wes Anderson movies. Most would agree that it’s strong for a debut film but lacks the narrative momentum displayed by the director’s best (especially The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Royal Tenenbaums).

7 The Cast Of The Grand Budapest Hotel Was Too Big

A now-deleted user thinks that Anderson has gotten too ambitious in his eccentricities. They cite the size of the casts as a potential deficit to the film’s effectiveness. They said, “… the huge cast of movie star cameos in Grand Budapest Hotel that I think sort of sank the whole thing under its own weight.”

The Grand Budapest Hotel has a remarkably stacked cast, but it’s unpopular to view that as an issue. If their dialogue is solid, they’re still just actors in memorable roles. Recognizability shouldn’t extract the viewer from the narrative, and it seems that’s not a problem with most people and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

6 Wes Anderson Sexualizes The Children In His Films

One Redditor takes particular issue with what they see as one of Anderson’s tropes. As alrightjustine said, “I particularly dislike the way he often sexualizes children in his films, especially Moonrise Kingdom. He also consistently fetishized non-White-American cultures.”

The_Coconut_God came back with “‘Sexualizes children?’… Moonrise Kingdom is a sweet, wonderful story about young love … it fills me with a deep sense of nostalgia and wonder.” The film does show the two kids going swimming, but many would probably say that the word “sexualizing” is taking the issue a bit far. At most, the movie is just a look at the youthful process of figuring out love.

5 The Boy’s Death In The Darjeeling Limited Was Too Much

After discussing The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom, alrightjustine continues by bringing up a part in The Darjeeling Limited (2007) that they find offensive. “Another icky moment in a Wes Anderson film for me was … when the young Indian boy’s death was like the catalyst for ‘healing’ for the main dudes.”

But Redditor _I_am_dog_whisperer_ replied with a simple comment that was fully indicative of their feelings: “I think you should rewatch both of those movies, especially Darjeeling.” The truth of the matter is that the three lead characters do experience genuine heartbreak over the death of the little boy. The Darjeeling Limited isn’t Anderson’s best movie, but it’s hard to find that part particularly “icky.”

4 Bottle Rocket Is Less “Andersonian” Than Rushmore

One Reddit user, comma_sus asked if others would agree that Bottle Rocket contains fewer Wes Anderson tropes than his followup, Rushmore. They said, “wouldn’t you say Bottle Rocket is less Wes-Andersony than Rushmore? But this seems to be quite an unpopular opinion and other Redditors were quick to tell the OP why.

Laughterwithans replied, “I don’t know, Bottle Rocket’s dialogue is extremely Andersonian.” They go on to mention that the classic Wes Anderson tropes and dialogue were already there, they just weren’t as developed yet. They mention specific pieces of dialogue: “‘How much bullets does this thing take?’ ‘On the run from Johnny Law, ain’t no trip to Cleaveland.’ He just didn’t have the budget for a production designer yet.” While it’s true, compared to Rushmore, Bottle Rocket does contain far fewer “zany” characters and its dialogue is far more straightforward than the Andersonian dialogue found in later movies, most would agree that many of his trademarks can already be seen if one looks hard enough.

3 Wes Anderson Is Overrated

One Redditor, conorsullivan124, says that Wes Anderson is overrated and elaborates: “Even though I hate when his films are no substance and all style, I do actually love his style, [and] the cinematography of films like Moonrise Kingdom is absolutely beautiful, but I just can’t give the film a good rating because the characters and plot execution are all so average.”

But this unpopular opinion was quickly rebutted by Redditor Sabnitron, who responded by citing their comment directly: “So just to be clear, your argument is that Wes Anderson is ‘overrated’ because while he’s a great filmmaker, his stories aren’t unique enough for your own personal tastes? … He’s absolutely one of a kind.” If anything can be said about Anderson it’s that he is utterly unique. This extends to his brand of characterization as seen in classics like The Royal Tenenbaums, whose characters were extraordinarily memorable and well above “average.”

2 Everything Made After The Royal Tenenbaums Is Just An Attempt To Repeat It

On a thread focused on The Royal Tenenbaums, Taikomochi said, “I always thought of TRT this way: Everything before was leading to it, and everything after it was trying to repeat it. I am not such a huge fan of Anderson.”

This hot take suggests that everything made after The Royal Tenenbaums is just a failed attempt at recreating what made it good. But most fans definitely wouldn’t agree. One Redditor, european_son, countered this by asking if the user had seen Moonrise Kingdom, following up with, “While stylistically it may be similar to TRT, the plot, themes, motivations, etc. [in Moonrise Kingdom] are very different from TRT.” And the Redditor has a point. Most of the characters in The Royal Tenenbaums are selfish, whereas those in Moonrise Kingdom are either fairly kind children or people who are selflessly looking to save them from an impending storm. The Royal Tenenbaums doesn’t have altruistic characters, certainly not to the extent of Moonrise Kingdom.

1 The Life Aquatic Is His Magnum Opus

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is largely seen as in league with The Darjeeling Limited for the title of Anderson’s weakest film. Regardless, one Redditor gave it extremely high praise. Lumpking69 said, “I think that The Life Aquatic is his Magnum Opus. Partly because of his collaboration with Noah Baumbach.”

But there’s an argument to be made that having two distinct auteurs actually led to the movie feeling distinctly overstuffed. Regardless, The Life Aquatic is still quotable if not also full of mostly unlikeable characters and too many plot threads.

About The Author

Ben Hathaway
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Ben Hathaway is a Senior Writer (Lists) for Screen Rant. A former Therapeutic Day Treatment counselor, Ben is now a career writer. When not working, he is writing and self-publishing (on Amazon) novels under the name Scott Gray. In his spare time, he’s reading on the porch or watching every film under the sun. Ben can be contacted at [email protected].

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