The Royal Tenenbaums: Criterion Collection Wes Anderson, Director Touchstone, 2001 www.criterionco.com 2xDVD (2002)

I suppose it's that element of expectation and the worry of disappointment that makes a filmmaker like Wes Anderson seem so vital and important. Rather than burst onto the scene, with Bottle Rocket (1996), Anderson and writing partner Owen Wilson shuffled onto the Hollywood stage rather quietly, attracting a dedicated following and a glut of critical praise but not really making a dent in the popular consciousness. Their sophomore effort, Rushmore (1998), made huge strides artistically and had a slightly more significant impact at the box-office. Most importantly, however, it considerably broadened the audience for Anderson's intelligent brand of humour, although its irreverence and hyper-realistic visual style kept it just outside the spotlight of mainstream acceptance. With The Royal Tenenbaums, however, Anderson has made those first few strides seem like baby-steps, presenting audiences with a tale so perfectly realized that it exists as its own world. Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, this carefully crafted contemporary drama of a dysfunctional family whose members each enjoyed their crowning achievements at too early an age to maintain such a degree of success exhibits the confidence and clarity of a Hollywood veteran.

The Royal Tenenbaums opens at a ferocious pace -- exposition addressing all the principle characters is dispatched through an ultra-stylish montage sequence featuring Anderson's trademark, Godard-influenced use of Futura Bold type-face titles and a gorgeous orchestral arrangement of "Hey Jude", courtesy of Anderson-mainstay and Devo-alumni Mark Mothersbaugh. With an economy of time and an abundance of film language, the premise of the story has been firmly established. It is interesting to note that as the film progresses, the fractured nature of the narrative that informs the first act entirely disappears, coalescing into a unified whole just as the family discovers such a unity within the story. The splendor of Anderson's work is the characters and the way in which he and Owen craft these tragic heroes in a manner immediately accessible and endearing to the audience. Just as thousands now consider Max Fischer a Ferris Bueller for the new generation, Richie (Luke Wilson), Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Chas (Ben Stiller) are protagonists each designed to express basic human qualities shared by all of us. Their success is our own, just as their failures and subsequent renewal through the diligence and love of their estranged patriarch, Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) shine with an honesty and humour that renders the individual experiences of the family universal.

This two-disc, "director-approved" collectors' edition from Criterion will be arguably the most widely available title from the boutique imprint thus far as a result of their partnership with Buena Vista for this release. That means that home video consumers will spend significantly less on this particular edition of the Criterion Collection than they normally would. Disc one contains an anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film that beautifully captures the saturated colour palette of the Tenenbaums' technicolor world. Pinks and reds pop off the screen with little to no distortion while darker tones (particularly in the "Richie suicide" sequence) retain the luminous quality that made them so captivating in theatres. As is the case with all of Anderson's films, the soundtrack is a crucial component of the experience, and The Royal Tenenbaums offers an exciting example of this, with both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS mixes available. Magical moments like Margot's reunion with Richie set to the shimmering melancholia of Nico's "These Days" and the rocket-propelled sequence featuring Royal and his grandsons set to the sound of The Ramones' "Judy Is A Punk" are ultra-modern, cinematic high-water marks and lose nothing in their translation to the small screen. Anderson's screen-specific commentary track is another audio feature; it is well paced and insightful. While it lacks the out-and-out hilarity of his collaboration with Owen Wilson on the Rushmore commentary, it is just as informative and heartfelt, particularly discussions concerning his family, upbringing, and the influence of his mother upon the character of Etheline (Anjelica Houston).

Disc two contains a fair number of supplements including a brief but enjoyable "making-of" documentary, a series of interviews with the cast, and a stunning still photography gallery. While I generally don't gravitate to this feature on DVDs, the photos here are not only gorgeous but further the legend Anderson is slowly creating with regards to his treatment of actors and their total immersion in the fictional worlds he conjures.

Keep your eyes open for a couple of well-placed easter eggs in the form of out-takes and bloopers. Nothing special, but worth a few laughs and the time spent navigating through the stunning Eric Anderson-illustrated menus. Extensive liner notes include design sketches from Eric Anderson and an essay from Film Comment's Kent Jones; as is the case with his monograph for Rushmore, Jones offers just a modicum of academia to properly set the film within both the broad sense of popular culture and the more limited world of scholarship.

The Royal Tenenbaums is a spellbinding film that improves with each viewing. Nuanced elements of each character reveal themselves through a familiarity with the film, while Anderson and Wilson's intelligent sense of humour never grows thin. Anderson's The Magnificent Ambersons-cum-Les Enfants Terribles conception of the Tenenbaum family bears the marks of experience from his previous films and promises further successes should he continue to write from the heart. It's too late to be considered Hollywood's "next big thing", but Anderson seems to have firmly established himself within contemporary cinema's elite, allowing the term "genius" to be occasionally cast without a sense of bravado -- and without fears of his brilliance passing by too quickly, like the members of the Tenenbaum family he has so brilliantly introduced.

-- Mike Baker