Director Wes Anderson appears poised to up the ante again in his fourth film, The Life Aquatic. The look and feel of Anderson's breakthrough picture, Rushmore, was decidedly low-budget, and though 2001's The Royal Tenenbaums was a bigger movie, it still had that art-house look about it.

Not so with Anderson's latest movie, if the first trailer is any indication. Not only are we treated to complicated underwater sequences, but the ocean of Aquatic's world appears to be populated by expensive-looking CGI sea creatures.

In fact, the only thing that makes this recognizable as a Wes Anderson movie (besides the director's name featured prominently in the trailer) is the excellent cast. Bill Murray, veteran of both Rushmore and Tenenbaums, returns, as do Angelica Huston and Owen Wilson. Newcomers to the quirky filmmaker's world include Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum.

Watching the trailer, I couldn't help but think of another upcoming film of the same genre, David Russell's I Heart Huckabees. While I haven't really cared for Russell's previous movies, the trailer showed me enough snappy dialogue and plot points to pique my interest. On the other hand, the Aquatic trailer was immensely disappointing.

The premise for the film--Bill Murray as a Cousteau-type adventurer on a quest for his own personal white whale--is inspired, if only because it's Murray. The director and the supporting cast are big draws as well. But, quite frankly, there was very little in the trailer to actually recommend the film. The Huckabees trailer had me laughing out loud. The Aquatic trailer had me wondering if I had missed something.

This isn't to pass judgment on the film, which I still hope will be as entertaining and poignant as Anderson's previous efforts. But I am less excited about Aquatic than I was prior to seeing the trailer, which is, of course, the opposite of the intended effect.

See the trailer here.

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