By Steven Loeb

In the pantheon of modern day auteurs, there are few whose movies are more recognizable than Wes Anderson’s. His films contain a sense of wonder, sarcastic amusement and sadness that audiences don’t find in a lot of movies these days. From his first feature, 1996’s “Bottle Rocket,” he has set himself apart from his peers in terms of visual style, as well as substance. But after four feature films, where the audience has become used to, the “Andersonian” way of filmmaking, the question becomes, can he still awe the audience with the same old tricks?

The short answer is, no. His latest, “The Darjeeling Limited”, fails to capture the magic of his previous films. Those other films left one leaving the theater with a sense of admiration; one may not have loved them right away but still knew they were in the presence of an artist in control of his own work. But now it seems that Anderson has lost the ability to reign in his own tendencies. There is a real sense of “been there, done that” when watching “The Darjeeling Limited”, as much of what is in this movie seems to be an obvious retread of previous Anderson films. There are sibling-bonding moments between the three brothers, played by Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Schwatrzman, which seem to be taken straight out of “Bottle Rocket” or the “Royal Tenenbaums.” The setting, a train transporting the brothers throughout India, is reminiscent of the close quarters on the boat in “The Life Aquatic” with Steve Zissou, Anderson’s fourth film. There are paternal issues, a theme that has run through Anderson’s movies since his second feature, “Rushmore”. There is even a death in the film around three quarters of the way that is extremely evocative of a death scene in “The Life Aquatic.” Anderson seems to have used up all of his tricks, and has nothing left up his sleeve.

Wes Anderson has become a parody of himself; this is a movie that seems more like a bad rip-off of a film he would have made ten years ago. Anderson knows what his fan base wants, and he is going to give it to them, no matter that it takes away from his film. This is no more apparent than in the cameos from Bill Murray and Kumar Pallana, two Anderson regulars. They pop up unexpectedly in the film, but have no lines and seem only to be there as a wink and a nod to the audience. This is what Anderson has become- he is so eager to please his audience that he simply refuses to give them anything new.

“The Darjeeling Limited” is recommended to those who are already fans of Wes Anderson’s work. Just don’t expect anything you haven’t seen before.

Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Shwartzman portray three brothers in search of themselves and a family bond in “The Darjeeling Limited” the latest release from director Wes Anderson. (allmoviephoto.com)