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The Royal Tenenbaums
- Review Date: July 13, 2003
- R
- Genre: Comedy
- 2001
Common Sense Media says
Quirky extended-family story with dry adult humor.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has very mature material including a graphic and bloody suicide attempt, sexual references and situations (adultery and a possible romance between adopted siblings), and painful issues of betrayal and deception. There are references to a tragic death. An adopted child is made to feel like an outsider. A character has a serious drug abuse problem. Some people may find the light-hearted treatment of these issues offensive and kids will probably miss the dry humor completely.
What's the story?
Royal (Gene Hackman) and Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three children, all of whom were so prodigiously accomplished while still in grade school that they were the subject of books, including one by their mother. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright, Richie (Luke Wilson) was a tennis champion, and Chas (Ben Stiller) was a financial wizard. But as adults, they have reverted to childhood, and either can't or won't perform anymore. One by one, they return home, moving into their old bedrooms. And then Royal, long estranged from the family, tells Etheline that he, too, wants to come home, to make his peace with the family before he dies of cancer.
Is it any good?
Just about everything is a little off-kilter in this quirky story about a wildly dysfunctional family. THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS takes place in a whacked-out fantasy version of Baltimore, where hotels employ uniformed elevator operators, decrepit taxis literally labeled "Gypsy Cab" show up whenever someone needs to go somewhere and there is a YMCA on "375th Street." The production design is brilliant, especially the house (the children's bedrooms are magnificent) and the hotel.
Director Wes Anderson and actor Owen Wilson (who plays the Tenenbaum's neighbor, Eli) wrote the screenplay, and like their previous collaborations, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, this movie defies categorization, combining elements of satire, fantasy, comedy, tragedy, farce, and drama. That's a combination that will make some audiences uncomfortable, but will seem to others to be the best possible way -- maybe the only way -- to truly convey a story of family conflict. The result is messy, even outrageous, but reflecting a singularity of vision that is welcome in a mainstream studio film starring three Oscar-winners.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
Families can talk about whether this wild exaggeration of family communication problems can be of help to families who are struggling to connect to each other. How can parents stimulate and support gifted children without making them feel isolated from friends and family?
Eli says to Royal "I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum," and Royal
responds, "So did I." What does that mean?Why did such accomplished
children become such fragile adults?Why did Chas react to his wife's
death by becoming obsessed with safety?
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- Teens & kids
Teen, 15 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
Amazing movie if you enjoy subtle, dark humor. Not for everybody, but I loved it.
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Teen, 16 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
'Common Sense' left out a few details
I enjoyed it very much. There were no brandnames, which added humor to the film--the taxi service was called gypsy taxi co., the bus service was green line. Common Sense did not mention the poster of the fully nude woman the chain of clips with shirtless woman exchanging homosexual kisses. Otherwise, this film was excellent.
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Teen, 15 years old
July 26, 2009
AGE
e.g. Perfect for older kids, but not for tweens
It's very funny and well-acted, and I found it difficult not to like.
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Kid, 9 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
Fine
Rushmore is better.
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Kid, 11 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
Incredible movie.
The Royal Tenenbaums is about a group of gifted, famous children and their mother Etheline Tenenbaum and father Royal Tenenbaum. Chas was a financeer, Margot was a playwright, and Richie was a star tennis player. Their father Royal Tenenbaums. After Royal and Etheline's divorce, the gifted children's future was ruined by 10 eyars of betrayal and disaster. Now after not seeing his family for 3 years, Royal Tenenbaum fakes a terminal illness in order to see his family again. This movie's great and incredibly underrated by Common Sense Media. I mean come on, 3 stars? Easily 4 stars, maybe 5. As well as the Wes Anderson movies as well. Maybe not Life Aquatic considering it wasn't critically recieved that great. This movie contains dark, witty, and subtle jokes. There's also some technical incest from abopted siblings, a naked woman as an ad for one of Margot's plays, a flip through of Margot's files including a part entitled "Rive Gauche`" with a topless woman and Margot kissing. The language is pretty minor, but the violence is much stronger. You might as well just read the CS review for that one. Richie tries to commit suicide by slitting his wrists(not as graphic as it could be but very, very dark.) All in all, this movie is about a family that truly loves eachother in it's own unique way whether they wanna admit it or not. Amazing 5-star movie.
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Adult
October 15, 2011
AGE
Powerful.
Clever, funny and dark movie about not your average family.In other words - one f----d up household.
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Parent of 8 and 13 year old
December 10, 2011
AGE
Great movie with a great ending.
I love this movie. I even bought the dvd. I love the cast and all their quirky problems. The music is the best and I bought the soundtrack too.
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Adult
August 11, 2012
AGE
Very Good, Slightly Overrated
Many people consider this to be Wes Anderson's best film, and while it is very good, I don't think it's his BEST. This has Wes Anderson's usual quirky style and deadpan delivery with dry and wry humor. The family is full of strange and colorful characters that are sure to draw in the interest of the film's audience. I thought it was strange that one subplot of the film is a romance between adopted siblings, because in real life that almost never happens due to the Westermarck Effect. I liked this film, but do think that it is a bit overrated.
What other families should know:
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Teen, 13 years old
April 25, 2013
AGE
It Surely Wasn't Shocking
Wes Anderson has always been one of my all time favorite directors, and this movie doesn't disappoint. Every shot is like poetry in pictures, and these famous, well known actors really get out of their boxes and play roles we haven't seen them in before. I feel that the website made too big a deal about the suicide scene, I think although it is bloody and the scene in which he shows Margot his cuts is a little unnecessary, it really isn't that bad. The website failed to mention that the scene in which Margot kisses a girl is much more than a moment. The incest between adopted siblings isn't that shocking. Overall, any teenager hears things much worse during school every day than they will see in this movie.
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| Studio: | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Director: | Wes Anderson |
| Cast: | Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gene Hackman |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 109 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | December 21, 2001 |
| DVD release date: | July 9, 2002 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language, sexual references, and mature themes |
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