There are few filmmakers whose work is as instantly recognizable as Wes Anderson. Although he’s unafraid to showcase his many influences, he has a style all his own that many have tried to duplicate but to little avail. He’s a skilled artist with a distinct voice, one that melds erudite childhood with deadpan retorts, slapstick with melancholy, and somehow it all works in perfect symmetry. For some, you either love or hate his work, but there are more levels to his filmography than that. He’s a writer and director who has grown since bursting on the scene in 22 years ago with Bottle Rocket, and his development has been fascinating to watch.

We've ranked all of Anderson’s feature films from worst to best, from the low-budget heist of Bottle Rocket to the alien-infused theatrics of his latest, Asteroid City.

11. The Darjeeling Limited

the-darjeeling-limited-feature

This movie just doesn’t really work despite having the verve of other Anderson movies. It’s unmistakably the work of the director, but it also tends to showcase his worst tendencies like reducing minorities down to stereotypes, obvious visual symbolism (the guys casting off their baggage is cringeworthy), and characters whose idiosyncrasies veer into the irritating. The movie’s saving grace is that there does seem to be a heart that beats beneath all the flourishes, and the sense of camaraderie between Anderson and co-writers Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman comes through even in the script’s weakest moments. Unfortunately, time and again, The Darjeeling Limited feels like Anderson’s most self-indulgent work, a movie designed for the catharsis of the artist rather than the audience.

RELATED: Wes Anderson Makes His Short Films Matter

10. Bottle Rocket

Owen Wilson in Bottle Rocket
Image via Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group

Bottle Rocket is as full of promise and all the rough edges you’d expect from an auteur like Anderson on his debut feature. The pacing is jittery, but the style and gentle confidence we’ve come to expect from Anderson’s pictures is there. What would probably be a top-notch premise in later Anderson movie—a heist film with inept criminals (something that kind of reappears in Fantastic Mr. Fox)—comes off more as a filmmaker trying to find his voice. Luke Wilson’s mopey relationship with a motel housekeeper is a drag on the picture, but it comes alive when Owen Wilson’s bumbling yet confident Dignan takes center stage. Every time I return to Bottle Rocket, I can’t deny its potential, but it always feels like it should be a better movie than it actually is.

9. Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs boy with canines

The director’s return to stop-motion animation is a lot of fun, and it also signals that he’s willing to become more ambitious with his themes. Yes, there’s a bit of “bad dad” in there in terms of the relationship between Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura) and his nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin), but the focus is really on the political subtext, particularly immigration and how groups become outcasts. All of this is set within a rich, vibrant world that takes the animation we saw in Fantastic Mr. Fox and brings it to the next level. Where the movie falls short, and where sharp critics like Justin Chang and Karen Han have pointed out, is the cultural appropriation. Directors don’t have to be careless about this (Coco was acclaimed for its close attention to Mexican culture), but it looks like Anderson clearly stumbled in this regard.

8. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, Bud Cort, Anjelica Huston, Michael Gambon, Noah Taylor, Matthew Gray Gubler, Seu Jorge, and Waris Ahluwalia in 'The Life Aquatic'
Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is Anderson coasting along and doing quite well, but also starting to run out of steam. On its own merits, there’s nothing particularly wrong with The Life Aquatic. It’s got some of the most gorgeous imagery in Anderson’s filmography (particularly the underwater scenes), Bill Murray shows yet again why he’s one of the director’s most potent collaborators, and Willem Dafoe basically steals the entire movie. And yet the “Bad Dads” thing is clearly wearing thin by this point, and you have a filmmaker who seems like he might have run out of things to say. The Life Aquatic isn’t a bad movie by any stretch, but when set aside other movies in Anderson’s filmography, it shows a director starting to stagnate.

7. The French Dispatch

The French Dispatch journalists sit together

This is an odd one in Anderson's filmography. He essentially made three short films tied together through a simple framing device and a love of long-form journalism typically presented in The New Yorker. On the one hand, you have to appreciate Anderson following his muse, and there aren't many other directors who would attempt to make a film about how they enjoy a certain form of periodical. There are loose themes about the power of art and how it moves us into the future, but overall it's more of a romp that has a little trouble carrying its momentum forward simply by nature of being an anthology. However, since there's really no venue for short films (outside of streaming platforms), if this is a way for Anderson to experiment (and there's a terrific 2D animated sequence in one of the segments that makes you wish he would attempt an entire feature in that medium) and bring an incredible cast along with him, then there's really no harm in it.

6. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Foxy near a tree in Fantastic Mr. Fox
Image via 20th Century Studios

Anderson basically revitalized his career with this daring stop-motion picture. It was both his first time doing an entire feature in stop-motion, and it was his first time adapting someone else’s work, in this case, the Roald Dahl book the same name. But it worked wonders, imbuing the charm of Anderson’s work with the quality of Dahl’s book. The movie features all of Anderson’s trademarks, and yet it feels fresh and daring. There’s a confidence in there that seemed to be fading from his other works, and while the “bad dads” element is still present, it doesn’t feel as overbearing as it did in his other movies, perhaps due to the fact that the characters are woodland animals. Fantastic Mr. Fox also features one of the best lines in all of Anderson’s filmography: “That’s just weak songwriting! You wrote a bad song, Petey!”

5. Moonrise Kingdom

Slow Motion Represented in Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom
Image via Focus Features

While Anderson has never shied away from love stories before, here he wears his heart on his sleeve by showing the first love between two outcasts. It’s a bit of a roadtrip movie as Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) traverse the wild trying to make their way in the world, but it’s so sweet that the story moves along effortlessly. Like Anderson’s best work, Moonrise Kingdom feels like you’re seeing an adaptation of a young adult book that was never made. However, there are also artistic flourishes that show Anderson continuing to grow as a director, and no longer content to tell the story of strained relationships between fathers and their children. It makes for a richer, more vibrant picture that never loses sight of the loveliness and melancholy of first love.

4. Asteroid City

Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck in Asteroid City.
Image via Focus Features

Eleven films in, Wes Anderson is still able to surprise. Asteroid City, with its Inception-like narrative device, allows Anderson to comment on storytelling in general and his own, questioning whether it all means anything, or if that even matters at all. Anderson does this through an extremely funny comedy about an alien landing that often manages to still feel like one of his most introspective stories yet. It's easy to get lost in the impeccable directing of Anderson, but Asteroid City also reminds us that he's one of the wittiest screenwriters working today, and the amount of characters that he balances with ease—and without ever making any one character feel left out—is a tremendous accomplishment. Anderson is working with many of his old favorites like Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, and a brilliant appearance by Jeff Goldblum, but the new additions to his usual players, like Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, and Maya Hawke prove that Anderson can make anyone fit into his trademark style. Asteroid City might be Anderson's latest, but it already feels like a new Anderson classic. — Ross Bonaime

3. Rushmore

Jason Schwartzman playing Max Fisher, presenting his go kart in Rushmore
Image via Touchstone Pictures

This movie has always worked, but now it kind of works thanks most of all to Jason Schwartman’s performance. On paper, Max Fischer should be repulsive. He’s self-centered, needy, and stalks poor Mrs. Cross (Olivia Williams), turning what should be a mild crush into full-blown warfare with his friend-cum-rival Mr. Blume (Bill Murray). But because Schwartzman comes off as so sweet and childlike, the narcissism of his character is blunted, but just barely. Held together by his talented lead actor, Rushmore is able to take off and show that in his second feature, Anderson is able to pay off all the promise he showed with Bottle Rocket.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums

Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums
Image via Buena Vista Pictures

The top two slots came very close to swapping places, and ask me on another day, and they could be different. The Royal Tenenbaums is arguably Anderson’s masterpiece, featuring a knockout comic performance from Gene Hackman as the patriarch of a family of fallen geniuses. In some ways, Tenenbaums is the movie that all other Anderson movies are measured as it shows him coming into full command of his artistic style and sensibilities, so it becomes even riper for parody. And yet the film itself is deeply moving as you see a father looking for one last chance with his kids even though he probably doesn’t deserve it and doesn’t know the exact way to go about getting it. What many of Anderson’s imitators miss is that beneath all the style, there’s usually a beating heart, and for Tenenbaums, it’s about how to fix a broken family.

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel

M. Gustave smiling at the camera in The Grand Budapest Hotel
Image via Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Grand Budapest Hotel lands at the top of the list because it shows Anderson taking the biggest step forward in his career. He paved the way with Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom, but Budapest has him stepping into something larger and arguably more disturbing. The film is still hilarious (“Holy shit, you got him!”) with an incredible performance from Ralph Fiennes, but by channeling the work of Ernst Lubitsch as well as a bit of Powell & Pressburger, you can see a filmmaker who’s willing to step outside his comfort zone while never losing his own style. Anderson has always juggled the melancholy will the painfully funny, but it never looks so effortless as it does here. The movie is unafraid to be sad, dour, whimsical, wily, and it’s the full showcase of an unforgettable filmmaker at the top of his game.