Wes Anderson movies are an acquired taste. But this one in particular is very accessible, and very funny. And it has a very emotional ending.
The only thing an uninitiated viewer needs to know is that the effects are intentionally low-budget. Just take them as seriously as the characters do, you’ll warm to them.
My first time watching this movie I stopped paying attention about 30 minutes in. Some time later the final act started and I was drawn back in. I have since watched it from start to finish about 5 times. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't generally watch a movie more than once.
That's my favourite Wes Anderson film! The story and design are beautiful and the writing is brilliantly clever.
the effects are intentionally low-budget
Some of them are for aesthetic reasons, but this film was actually pretty expensive to make. Famously it did a lot of damage to WA's reputation among Hollywood execs because the studio greenlit a high budget for him and gave him a lot of creative control and the movie ended up doing really poorly at the box office. It cost 50M to make and only earned 25M in box office sales.
Right up there with Tenenbaums for me. Wasn’t as impressed with it when I saw it in theaters, but it really grew on me. Still get the feels when Queen Bitch plays at the end.