Director Wes Anderson has been making eccentric gems since his 1995 debut with "Bottle Rocket." His movies are always offbeat and dryly humorous, but sincere and unpretentious. Whether or not you get the joke, there’s no denying that this writer/director has genuine talent and unparalleled vision.

He followed up "Bottle Rocket," a refreshingly funny "heist" movie featuring an inept trio of suburban slackers going for a big score, with the sweet and smart "Rushmore." This comic valentine about an oddball prep school student, a cynical tycoon and the teacher they both love is an underrated masterpiece and my favorite film of 1998. It also contains Bill’s Murray’s best performance to date.

Gene Hackman is spry and joyful as Royal Tenenbaum.

Now Anderson is back with "The Royal Tenenbaums," a modern fairy tale about a family of failed geniuses. This film is his most ambitious to date. Anderson is working with a sterling cast of celebrated actors as he presents a storybook view of New York City — one not seen on screen perhaps since Woody Allen’s "Manhattan."

The Woody comparisons are apt since Anderson’s sensibility seems lifted straight from 1970’s cinema. His movies have a look and feel of another time — a quirky combination of heart and humor more reminiscent of the seventies’ triumphs of directors like Allen ("Annie Hall"), Mike Nichols ("Catch 22") and Hal Ashby ("Harold and Maude"). You get sucked into Anderson’s kooky world and don’t want to come back.

Gene Hackman is spry and joyful as Royal Tenenbaum, the estranged patriarch of a sad clan bursting with misplaced potential. His children — Ben Stiller ("Zoolander"), Luke Wilson ("Legally Blonde") and Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shallow Hal") — all seem to be walking under a cloud of perpetual disappointment until Hackman arrives with an armful of umbrellas. Hackman is a joy to watch in a performance that could snag him some well-deserved golden boys come awards time.

Royal’s children are initially reluctant to accept him since their combined failures could be attributed to his abrupt departure some 20 years earlier. The movie follows how Royal redeems himself in his children’s eyes and how they each redeem themselves in the wake of his return. How the family comes together is revealed in many wonderfully amusing moments. The film’s drolly earnest screenplay was written by Anderson and his long-time collaborator Owen Wilson.

Owen Wilson swaggers around like a wacky southwestern hybrid of Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.

Wilson has co-written all of Anderson’s films while holding down a pretty respectable acting career with gigs in "Shanghai Noon" and "Behind Enemy Lines." He also plays a noteworthy role in the movie as an outrageous novelist and childhood friend of the Tenenbaum brood. He swaggers around like a wacky southwestern hybrid of Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.

The movie’s themes of reunion and atonement might make it more accessible than Anderson’s earlier films, but its plot and dialogue are just as loopy. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is a great tonic for the chronic heartburn inflicted upon audiences by our current fast-food cinema. You have to see this movie more than once. There’s just too much to take in at one viewing. Its humor is derived from more than just scatological references and sight gags. The characters are more than just window dressing. You’ll connect to it more every time you see it.

The Royal Tenenbaums is a great tonic for the chronic heartburn inflicted upon audiences by our current fast-food cinema.

The acting in "The Royal Tenenbaums" is first-rate, from the leads all the way down. Stiller takes a break from his "klutzy neurotic guy" routine to play an angry widower — albeit one who obsessively drills his sons in safety procedures while cladding them in red jogging suits so he can spot them easily in an emergency. Luke Wilson vacations from his recent sweet puppy roles (See "Charlie’s Angels" and "Legally Blonde") to turn in a brooding appearance as a disgraced tennis champ in love with his adopted sister. While Paltrow is not indispensable as the aforementioned sister — a morose and misunderstood chain-smoking playwright — it’s probably her most liberated work in years.

Since gaining acclaim for prancing around in corsets in "Emma" and "Shakespeare in Love," Paltrow has accumulated some considerable baggage. Nowadays her acting gets lost in the glare of her movie star wattage. For example, Paltrow’s not playing a grieving widow in "Bounce," she’s Widow Gwyneth! In "Shallow Hal," people didn’t show up for the movie as much as they came to see Paltrow in a fat suit. Who needs talent when you’ve got brand loyalty! At least with this film, the character doesn’t rise and fall on the strength of her persona. Paltrow’s actually being required to act and good for her!

Everything in this film comes together to create a magical experience for the audience. The direction is focused yet whimsical, the casting is inspired and the story is witty and bittersweet. While most filmmakers use soundtracks, costumes and production design to slightly sprinkle their movies with atmosphere, Anderson makes them essential to the plot and character development. They’re practically characters themselves.

Anderson’s eye for detail and off kilter sensibility help him stand out in an industry growing increasingly homogenous. I hope he continues to make movies for a very long time. The world is a much more interesting place with him in it.