Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and original film, superb DVD
Review: Like Wes Anderson's Rushmore, this is a witty and stylish comedy drama with a sharp script and an excellent cast at their best, particularly Gene Hackman at his comedic best. The costumes are as colourful as the characters in this film.The whole enterprise has a faintly anarchic and zany feel but repays repeated viewings. The Criterion 2 DVD set is outstanding: a perfect 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer which shows off this colourful movie to superb effect. You won't find a better DVD image-wise than this. On the second DVD are a host of entertaining extras, not quite in the Criterion Rushmore class, but still very enjoyable. All in all a quality DVD package.
Rating: 
Summary: Anderson/Wilson have reached a new level
Review: from bottle rocket to rushmore was a huge leap, but i never expected these two guys to beat it with their next movie! the royal tenenbaums stars and ensemble cast, so from the beginning we know that the acting is great. but in addition to that, the story is so funny and interesting because of the way the characters are and how they interact with eachother....gene hackman has one of the best performances of his career (for once he's not a bad guy) and ben stiller makes me crack up everytime. but ultimately, this movie is a really funny version of robert redford's Ordinary People.
Rating:
Summary: COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AWESOME!
Review: This is a movie that is awesome. It is a hidden gem. I had not heard much about it until someone insisted that I see it. Loved it, loved it so much that one time in Miami I rented it 9 times from the hotel video service during my 3 day stay.
Rating: 
Summary: Occasionally Amusing, But Too Damned Cute For Its Own Good
Review: Like Anderson's earlier Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums is a film filled to overflowing with cute little ideas and grace notes and witty little moments. Unfortunately, it is working so hard being cute and graceful and witty that it never really takes off. The film never really comes together into a consistent, engaging whole for me. It just kind of wanders from cute little thing to cute little thing to cute little thing to cute little thing. I was ready to move on long before the final credits started, ever so cutely, to roll.
Rating:
Summary: Clever Humor
Review: The jokes in this movie are quite subtle and witty so you really have to pay attention to detail to recieve it in all its glory. It is one of the best movies that I havce seen in years. A story about a family that has fallen apart due to the misdeeds of the patriarch and now he is trying to make up for past mistakes. It is about failure and forgiveness and redemption. it packs all the punches with all the emotions and all the laughs of a Wes Anderson movie. I think that it is his best so far ant that is saying a lot. Very very moving.
Rating:
Summary: This is wicked awesome
Review: this flick was like, totally off the yellzebub. if you dont see it you should dig a hole and die (tm elb). it's awesome-riffic (tm elb).
Rating:
Summary: "You wanna talk some jive? I'll talk some jive."
Review: Wes Anderson's third film, "The Royal Tenenbaums," is nothing short of amazing and was easily the best film of 2001. Why it wasn't nominated for more than Best Original Screenplay at this year's Oscars is beyond me. The same went for his sophomore effort (and what I feel is his best film of the three) "Rushmore."
One of many of Anderson's gifts lies in his appreciation of and ability to identify deadpan humor. My three favorite moments of the film are when Richie suffers a breakdown at his tennis match and tosses his racquet at the returned ball he lightly served over the net in the first place, when Chas holds a mock fire drill and tells his boys that they all would have died, including their dog, because it took them four and a half minutes to get out of the house, and when Raleigh St. Clair replies to the question "Can the boy tell time?" with "Heavens, no."
He also has the uncanny ability of accompanying his films with the perfect music (though he has been ostracized for not including certain songs that appear in his films on the actual soundtrack.) He did it in "Rushmore" with British Invasion songs and he doesn't falter here. The absolute best moment of the film (in a depressing, psychotic kind of way) is when Richie attempts to kill himself by slicing his wrists. The reason for this wholly rests on the fact that the entire montage was accompanied by Elliot Smith's haunting song "Needle in the Hay."
The other reason Anderson gets good marks is because of the fabulous ensemble cast. Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson are all at their best here.
Kudos to everyone involved in this film; it is sure to gain classic status years from now. A worthy addition to anyone's DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: candy to the eye and mind
Review: The Royal Tenenbaums is a zany comedy about a delightfully twisted family who fall apart and come back together. Although the plot of this movie may seem basic, it is filled with many out of the ordinary circumstances and eccentricities that are guaranteed to tickle your fancy. If watching the Osbourne family's calamities is something you love, the Royal Tenenbaums are sure to become another disfunctional favorite. It is an assortment of candy to the eye and mind.
Rating:
Summary: if only hollywood keeps on producing gems like this...
Review: this has to be one of the best movies that ever graced the screens... it's witty, quirky, endearing and an absolute lark! high praise indeed, except that it is well deserved. i'd like to think that this is the few comedies that intelligent people will absolutely appreciate. the kind of humor utilized here are not the usual brainless gags and other bathroom humor. it's dark and *subtle* - so must so that you have to literally keep your eyes glued to the screen (avoid blinking at any cost) and your brain on the loop coz you just might miss out on a good one! there are sooo many comedies that focuses on dysfunctional families, but none even come close to the sheer brilliance of this movie... the setting (uber retro; even when the kids are grown up), the parents (is there any parents cooler than houston and hackman?) and the kids (lookee, there's the token control freak, the optimistic one and the angst-ridden female); mr. pagoda (hackman's co-conspirator and the tenenbaums' butler), not too mention colorful neighborhood characters - the boy-next-door, the family accountant, the pet falcon (or is it eagle?), the dalmation mice and don't forget, the ubiquitous neighborhood cab with its peeling paint and dented fenders (a joke on it's own, i tell you)... absolutely everything that's captured on screen seems to be wrapped in some importance, like a private joke that only the writer knows. and the cast... no words can describe the sheer chemistry of the whole ensemble... you can even believe that they *are* actually the tenenbaums! anjelica houston is a pleasure to watch as always, and she shines as the matriarch of the family, reminiscence of morticia in the excellent "addams family". hackman is an absolute lark as the irrepressible scoundrel royal - not surprisingly an ex-lawyer and a major con-artist if there was ever one... stiller is in his usual element here as chaz the control freak. i usually find that most of his movies awkward and painful ( good movies usually, like "meet the parents" but the type that i avoid), but here, his presence is just perfect - what with his way cute kids and the adidas uniform the three of them wears! wilson is sweet and wears his affection for the family like a second skin, an epitome of innocence and at the same time nursing a 'dark' secret. paltrow is just brilliant as margot! she's not one of my favorite actresses and nothing quite prepared me for her... she really hit all the right notes with her portrayal of margot. and the other wilson, owen is pat perfect as the kid-next-door who is a permanent feature in the tenenbaum household. glover is also a pleasure to watch as the bumbling family friend, henry sherman, the perfect foil to hackman's confident royal... and who can forget the score? the movie is chockful of the best music of the yesteryear and not to forget the more offbeat offerings.. a perfect complement to the retro air the whole picture evokes, from the brilliantly colored walls to the aging decorations, even the hospital and hotel looked as if it is plucked right out of the 70's! "the royal tenenbaums" doesn't disappoint, the wacky plot just thickens by the seconds, and makes you wonder what *ever* will happen next.. but one thing's for sure, this is a movie that will be appreciated for years to come...
Rating:
Summary: They can be a royal pain.
Review: Relentlessly ordinary movie about a relentlessly extraordinary family. Director Wes Anderson's 3rd feature is about the Tenenbaums, a New York family full of prodigies . . . though the only member we need concern ourselves with is the comparatively un-prodigious patriarch, Royal Tenenbaum, played by Gene Hackman. His performance IS prodigious, and is the main reason I gave this movie a 2nd Star in my rating. Too bad the GenX whippersnappers who support him (Ben Stiller, several Owens brothers, Gwyneth Paltrow) aren't even in the same ballpark . . . though, to be just, that might be because the roles they're given are such illogical creations that not even acting prodigies could do much with them. I saw this movie when it was released: it's funny how little I remember about the younger Tenenbaums, even though they're the ones who're supposed to be so unforgettably quirky. Hackman's Royal, despite an unexplained retro wardrobe, is the least eccentric of the bunch . . . and yet the movie's most memorable scenes involve his interactions with his Indian manservant and his wife (Angelica Huston). However, I DO remember the works of J.D. Salinger, an author from whom Anderson has pilfered characters and settings in THREE movies, now. The perceptive reviewer from Austin below has already pointed this out. The theme of alienated youth is fair game, but when you start attaching it to an East Coast or New York prep-school milieu, "borrowing" starts looking like "stealing". And anyone who's read *Franny and Zooey* will find him/herself in suspiciously familiar territory with *The Royal Tenenbaums* in particular. Therefore, even the director's vaunted "originality" has been overstated. And he certainly doesn't get marks for visual composition, which in this case consists mainly of Kubrickian gemometrical set-ups and drab color. And much like Martin Scorcese, Anderson relies too much on his pop soundtrack to convey mood, information, etc. (When you hear the Ramones, it will be a "fun" scene; Nico, a "weird" scene.) Scorcese, who presumably knows better, can be accused of laziness for doing this; Anderson, considering his short track-record, can be dismissed as immature -- a better epithet than "lazy", seeing as how it implies he will one day BE mature. *Rushmore*, his best movie thus far (and also marred by an overworked rock playlist), showed a lot of promise. Promise or no, I do think Criterion -- whose catalog includes works by the likes of Kurosawa, Bergman, Godard, and Antonioni -- has been far too hasty to take Wes Anderson under their wing. I need to see more, and better -- or at least something TRULY original -- from this director before I include him in the cinematic pantheon.
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