The Darjeeling Limited DVD: Review By Moviejunkie4

There are people like me who love Wes Anderson and there are those who don't understand why he's likable. Still he's able to find an audience for his uniquely strange and odd sense of humor. The popularity of his previous four movies rely on the cast of actors he's used and "The Darjeeling Limited" has many familar faces, making it a mixture of Anderson's normal quirks set in a new environment.

The story is about Francis, Peter and Jack Whitman (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman), who are three brothers who haven't seen each other in a year, since the death of their father. They decided to reunite for a spiritual journey across India. Over the course of their trip, a lot of secrets are slowly revealed including the real reason for making the trip, but their constant bikering gets them thrown off the train on which they're riding.

While I can say "The Darjeeling Limited" is not a bad movie whatsoever, it's certainly no "Rushmore" either. The writing and relationship between the characters is very much in the same as in "Bottle Rocket" or (my personal favorite from Anderson), "The Royal Tenenbaums". Which will means you will immediately figure out whether not you'll like this or not.

Even though this film features the return of many of Anderson's regular ensemble of actors with Brody as the noticeable newbie, there are no standout performances that will leave any sort of lasting impression. Jason Schwartzman is a great comic talent. Owen Wilson essentially does the same thing he's done in Anderson's previous movies going all the way back to "Bottle Rocket". Anjelica Huston makes an appearance as the brothers' estranged mother and there a cameo eariler in the film with Bill Murray.

The movie can be uneven at times, and when the brothers get off the train, the film tends to drag, as they visit a small village and attend a funeral, which allows for a flashback to the incident from their father's funeral that broke up the family. If I remember correctly it's referred to earlier in the film in one of Jack's short stories. As I was saying, it's very much like Anderson's previous movies, being about flawed people expressing their with deep inner feelings while putting forth a few laughs.

Wes Anderson has also made a short film called "Hotel Chevalier" to go along with "The Darjeeling Limited", featuring Jason Schwartzman's character with an ex-girlfriend, played by Natalie Portman, and it's a necessary part to the story told in "Darjeeling". Also it's absolutely mandatory viewing before seeing this film, since the scene is referred to later in the movie, and it allows us to get to know more about Jack's character the first time we see him.

FINAL GRADE: B