Wes Anderson Royal Tenenbaums" was nominated for an Academy Award and ranked by an "Empire" poll as the 159th greatest film ever made. Anderson's next feature was "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004) about a Jacques Cousteau-esque documentary filmmaker played by Bill Murray. It serves as a classic example of Anderson's style, but its critical reception was less favorable than his previous films, and its box office did not match the heights of "The Royal Tenenbaums". In September 2006, Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen released a tongue-in-cheek "letter of intervention" for Anderson's artistic "malaise" following the disappointing commercial and
The Darjeeling Limited film "is unstintingly fussy, vain and self-regarding. But it is also a treasure: an odd, flawed, but nonetheless beautifully handmade object as apt to win affection as to provoke annoyance. You might say that it has sentimental value." Timothy Knight of Reel.com gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and said "Although "The Darjeeling Limited" pales in comparison to Anderson's best film, "Rushmore" (1998), it's still a vast improvement over his last, and worst film, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004)." Nathan Lee of "The Village Voice" wrote "A companion piece to "Tenenbaums" more than a step in