At the risk of an oversimplification, if you’ve seen one Wes
Anderson flick, you’ve seen them all. They are a little darker (thematically), muted
(visually), and off-center (societally).
And while all of this is as it should be in The Grand Budapest Hotel,
the film itself was not what I was expecting. Though a straight forward tale of greed, love,
and loyalty, as told through the eyes of a bellboy, the lengths to which the
characters followed those ends were not.
Defamed “heroes” and psychopaths
running a mock in what looked like the Swiss Alps was a bit too much for me. This was definitely more fantastic than
insightful, as the characters became obvious caricatures rather than the
subtler versions I had grown accustomed to.
That said, I found the film appropriately intriguing and the story fresh
(in a throwback kind of way)—though not my favorite Wes Anderson film (in full
disclosure, it’s Moonrise Kingdom).
Verdict: A nice night-in option on a rainy day (Netflix it)
