The best Wes Anderson films to watch if The Phoenician Scheme isn’t your vibe

Wes Anderson’s latest film The Phoenician Scheme has debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and very much divided audiences.

Anderson is a filmmaker known for his beautifully shot eccentric films that have a sense of whimsy and a distinctive style.

His latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, has just debuted at Cannes and has been met with very mixed reviews as some laud the film, and others are baffled by it.

Metro‘s Tori Brazier highlighted the discord in her review: ‘For better or worse, the Wes Anderson quirk is still extremely present and correct in The Phoenician Scheme – just as many fans adore it, detractors moan about his movies all seeming too similar because of it.

‘It’s not in dispute that The Phoenician Scheme is still gorgeous and polished, if you’re not too turned off by the filmmaker’s overwhelming aesthetic, as well as quality filmmaking.

‘However, the movie is just not as special as I expected or hoped it would be.’

Benicio Del Toro stars as Zsa-Zsa Korda and Mia Threapleton as Liesl in the movie (Picture: TPS Productions/Focus Features/REX/Shutterstock) The Phoenician Scheme debuted at Cannes (Picture: Credits: Alamy Stock Photo)

While it might not quite be everyone’s cup of tea, there are plenty of other impressive films from the director for those who are looking to watch some of the director’s most well-received hits.

Here are some of the best films to watch this weekend…

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel was released in 2014, and with a 92% Rotten Tomatoes ranking, the film was a smash hit that was praised by critics.

The film is set in the 1930s and told from the perspective of Zero, a junior lobby boy who works at the Grand Budapest Hotel, a popular European ski resort, presided over by concierge Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes).

Gustave prides himself on his first-class service and from time to time, that includes sleeping with some of the elderly women who stay at the hotel. When one of his elderly lovers died, he becomes the chief suspect in her murder and also inherits a priceless painting.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

The 39-minute-long short film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, has a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score and is one of the most highly rated films from Wes Anderson.

The 2023 film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular character along with Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade.

The film is based on Roald Dahl’s 1977 short story of the same name about a rich man who learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes through the power of yoga.

He sets out to master the skill so that he can hear at gambling.

Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs is a 2018 movie with a 90% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film is set in Megasaki, a fictional Japanese city where the Mayor banishes all dogs to a dump called Trash Island after an outbreak of canine influenza.

The Mayor’s orphaned nephew Atari, accidentally sparks a resistance movement when he goes on a dangerous mission to rescue Spots, his guard dog, from the island.

Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom has a 93% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and focuses on two 12-year-old children Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward), who fall in love and run away together.

The film is set in 1965 in New Penzance, an island off New England, and things take a scary turn when a horrible storm approaches the island.

Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and Bill Murray play the bonkers adults who assemble to try and find the two hopeless romantics and get them to safety before the storm ensues.

Fantastic Mr Fox

Fantastic Mr Fox is another animated project from Wes Anderson, and it’s also another Roald Dahl adaptation.

The stop-motion animation film has a 94% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and stars George Clooney as Mr Fox and Meryl Streep as his wife, Mrs Fox.

After Mr Fox leads a heist against his human farmer neighbours to thieve their crops to feed his family, the farmers try to catch and kill Mr Fox.

With his back against the wall, Mr Fox and his crew of animal friends must resort to their natural crafty animal instincts and rise to the occasion.

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