Wes Anderson Archive, The: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years (4K UHD Review)
Director
Wes AndersonRelease Date(s)
1996-2021 (September 30, 2025)Studio(s)
Indian Paintbrush/American Empirical Pictures (The Criterion Collection – Spine #450, #65, #157, #300, #540, #700, #776, #1025, #1281, #1282)- Film/Program Grade: See Below
- Video Grade: See Below
- Audio Grade: See Below
- Extras Grade: A+
- Overall Grade: A+
Review
The work of Wes Anderson continues to garner its fans and its detractors, and has done so since his debut film in 1996, Bottle Rocket, all the way up to and including (as of this writing) his recent work, 2025’s The Phoenician Scheme. Creating worlds in which eccentric, whimsical, lovable, and sometimes unsavory characters live with a style that relies heavily upon wide angles, sweeping symmetrical camera moves, snap-zooms, and unconventional color schemes set to classic pop and rock soundtracks, Wes Anderson’s work has become a style all his own. Some critics describe him as an auteur, others as emotionally distant with a limited capacity for style. Others simply see him as a filmmaker constantly in motion, seeking out stories to tell that fit his particular mold, which is a charming and easygoing but always fascinating mode of storytelling.
The Criterion Collection presents The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years, encapsulating his growth from passionate, small-time amateur to professional filmmaker. This massive and gorgeous 20-disc 4K Ultra HD package is also bursting with extensive bonus materials, and because of its size, I’ll be covering each film one at a time in order to go over it in better detail.
Below, you’ll find quick links that will take to you reviews of each film, as well as the packaging and my final thoughts on this set:
(Click Below to Jump to Individual Disc/Film Reviews):
DISCS ONE & TWO: BOTTLE ROCKET
DISCS THREE & FOUR: RUSHMORE
DISCS FIVE & SIX: THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
DISCS SEVEN & EIGHT: THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU
DISCS NINE & TEN: THE DARJEELING LIMITED
DISCS ELEVEN & TWELVE: FANTASTIC MR. FOX
DISCS THIRTEEN & FOURTEEN: MOONRISE KINGDOM
DISCS FIFTEEN & SIXTEEN: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
DISCS SEVENTEEN & EIGHTEEN: ISLE OF DOGS
DISCS NINETEEN & TWENTY: THE FRENCH DISPATCH
PACKAGING & FINAL THOUGHTS
DISCS ONE & TWO: BOTTLE ROCKET
Often referred to by Martin Scorsese as one of his favorite films of the 1990s, Bottle Rocket was a feature film debut for Wes Anderon, Owen Wilson, and Luke Wilson, all of whom were complete unknowns at the time of the film’s release. Wes and Owen had become friends after meeting in college, eventually writing a short film together, which became the thirteen minute version of Bottle Rocket. When it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, James L. Brooks saw it and agreed to help finance a feature film version. Eventually the full film was made, and despite a positive critical reaction, wasn’t a financial success for its distributor Columbia Pictures.
Anthony (Luke) has just completed a voluntary stay at a psychiatric hospital for exhaustion when he meets back up with his friend Dignan (Owen), whom Anthony allows to believe that he’s actually helping him to escape. While Anthony was away, Dignan has been making long-term plans for the two of them to pull off a series of heists together, bringing in their mutual friend Bob (Robert Musgrave) as a getaway driver. Bob is preoccupied with his bully of an older brother (Andrew Wilson), as well as his marijuana crop in his parents’ backyard, while Dignan’s goal is to get back into the good graces of Mr. Henry (James Caan), a small-town criminal who owns a landscaping business that Dignan was fired from. After the three pull off their initial book store robbery, they hit the road to lay low, staying at a motel whereupon Anthony falls in love with Inez (Lumi Cavazos), one of the housekeepers. As Dignan’s need for the group to go on and ascend to even greater felonious heights increases, Anthony finds himself at a crossroads, wondering whether he should continue being loyal to his friend or allow his life to take a more positive direction.
Among other things, Bottle Rocket was also this group’s first taste of trying to please audiences. A disastrous first test screening left Anderson in particular feeling shaken and totally unsure of himself. Not only was more editing required to tighten up the film’s pacing, but additional scenes were written and shot to help give the story more structure and character development. The latter is certainly the most obvious aspect of Bottle Rocket, with particular regard to Luke’s and Owen’s characters. Anthony seems to be a wayward but lost soul, fully supportive of Dignan, but also of strong enough mind to speak up to him when he appears to be going off the deep end. It feels like a familial relationship in which a more stable brother supports his chaotic brother, which is quite obvious since they’re actually brothers in real life, but it’s surprising that the film doesn’t hammer that point home more directly. Robert Musgrave and Lumi Cavazos also give terrific supportive performances, the latter of whom was mostly known at the time for her performance in 1992’s Like Water for Chocolate, but helping to ground the film and give it a sweet center.
Bottle Rocket’s mix of real world sentiment, humorous character interactions and dialogue, and slight whimsy would become trademarks of Wes Anderson’s work, the latter increasing over time. The look of the film, shot by future collaborator Robert Yeoman in a non-traditional Wes Anderson 1.85:1 frame, also became more aggressive in future works. Here it gives the story a laid-back sensibility, but a strong base without the need for an overly dynamic style. The back roads of El Paso, Texas and the open landscapes therein are beautifully captured, allowing them to exist in the space without any heavy lifting required. Some may find Bottle Rocket lacking because it’s a prototype for Anderson’s later work, but make no mistake: it’s inherently his, as well as Owen Wilson’s, personality at play.
Bottle Rocket was shot by cinematographer Robert Yeoman on 35mm film using Panavision Panaflex Gold II and Panavision Panaflex Platinum cameras with Panavision Primo spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Criterion’s Ultra HD debut features a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, which has been graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, approved by Wes Anderson, and encoded to a triple-layered BD-100 disc. It’s a quantum leap over previous presentations of the film, with a major boost in fine detail, sharper and more defined. Grain is mostly mild, though it occasionally makes its presence more known during scenes with lower light levels. The bitrate sits mostly in the 80 to 90Mbps range, giving the film a steady and well-encoded appearance without any macroblocking or other digital issues. The HDR passes deepen the color palette dramatically, with much improved saturation that’s more natural than on the previously Blu-ray, with deep blacks and perfect contrast. The image is stable, clean, and organic, leaving no room for complaints.
Audio is included in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. The film was released in Dolby SR, and the film has had a 5.1 audio option attached to it since its first DVD release, upgraded to a lossless container on Criterion’s first DVD and Blu-ray releases in 2008. It’s not an aggressive multi-speaker experience, but it gives the film’s soundtrack plenty of space to move around in when needed. Dialogue is often anchored to front, sometimes panned to the left and right when characters enter or leave the frame, while Mark Mothersbaugh’s score and the music selection fills the surrounding speakers. Sound effects are also given careful attention, mostly atmospherics with cars passing by in the background, or ambient environmental noises. Overall, the track offers excellent clarity, crisp with plenty of support of the various elements.
This 4K Ultra HD sits in a book-like digipak alongside a 1080p Blu-ray, which is a new pressing of the same disc released in 2008, and an attached 18-page insert booklet containing cast and crew information; the essays Simple Joys by Martin Scorsese, which appeared in the March 2000 issue of Esquire magazine; Genuine Voices by James L. Brooks, which was an introduction to the Rushmore screenplay; various photos and artwork; the film’s synopsis; a list of the special features; restoration information; and a set of acknowledgments. This packaging negates the previous Blu-ray release’s digipak artwork by Ian Dingman, which also contained a re-creation of Dignan’s “75-Year Plan” notebook. The following extras are included on each disc:
DISC ONE (UHD)
- Audio Commentary with Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
DISC TWO (BD)
- Audio Commentary with Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
- The Making of Bottle Rocket (HD and Upscaled SD – 25:43)
- The Bottle Rocket Short:
- Bottle Rocket (HD – 13:35)
- Miscellaneous (HD – 19 in all)
- Deleted Scenes:
- Sc. 8: Car Wash (Upscaled SD – :58)
- Sc. 9: Eating Sandwiches (Upscaled SD – 1:09)
- Sc. 11: Goff’s Hamburgers (Upscaled SD – 1:13)
- Sc. 16: Driving Scene (Upscaled SD – :53)
- Sc. 19: Temple Nash Jr. (Upscaled SD – 2:32)
- Sc. 27-29: Police in Bob’s Backyard (Upscaled SD – 2:44)
- Sc. 30: On the Lam (Upscaled SD – 1:12)
- Sc. 33-35: Commander Dignan (Upscaled SD – 2:45)
- Sc. 48-49: Bad News (Upscaled SD – 1:33)
- Sc. 58-59: At the Motel (Upscaled SD – 2:06)
- Sc. 88: Dignan and Applejack (Upscaled SD – 1:29)
- Anamorphic Test (HD and Upscaled SD – 2:33)
- Photos by Laura Wilson (HD – 40 in all)
- Storyboards (HD – 42 in all)
- The Shafrazi Lectures, No. 1: Bottle Rocket (Upscaled SD – 10:32)
- Murita Cycles (HD – 27:12)
- Easter Egg (SD – :51)
The audio commentary with Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson was recorded in 2008. Much like the film itself, it’s very laid back, but it’s a natural and free-flowing conversation about its making. The two reminisce about their experiences, often speaking about the circumstances of the test screening, which clearly affected them both emotionally, but they mostly keep things on track with very few instances of silence. The Making of Bottle Rocket is Barry Braverman’s 2008 documentary about the film, featuring interviews with Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Robert Musgrave, James Caan, Andrew Wilson, Kumar Pallana, Temple Nash Jr., producer Polly Platt, executive producers James L. Brooks and Richard Sakai, cinematographer Robert Yeoman, composer Mark Mothersbaugh, production designer David Waso, and set decorator Sandy Wasco.
The original Bottle Rocket short film is also included, which is more or less an abridged version of the film’s first act. Also included are a set of Miscellaneous production photos and storyboards from the short. Next are eleven Deleted Scenes from the main film, some of which develop Bob’s character, the marijuana subplot, and subsequent jailing of his brother a little more, the majority of which was left out of the final cut. The Anamorphic Test was shot prior to filming and is made up of moments from Sc. 33-35: Commander Dignan. Ultimately, the choice to shoot the film spherically in 1.85:1 better served the needs of the story. The Photos by Laura Wilson chronicle the original short film shoot and later feature film shoot. The Storyboards feature 44 images of Wes Anderson’s storyboards for various scenes in the film. The Shafrazi Lectures features art dealer and gallery owner Tony Shafrazi speaking about his fascination with the film and how he projects it onto a larger canvas for his own enjoyment. Murita Cycles is a short film by Barry Braverman about his father, Murray, who owned a bicycle shop in Staten Island in 1978. It served as an inspiration during the making of the short. Pressing the blue button while in the menu for Anamorphic Test will reveal a short snippet of Kumar Pallana spinning plates to camera.
BOTTLE ROCKET (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO/EXTRAS): A/A/A-/A+
MORE TO COME...
- Tim Salmons
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