2021’s The French Dispatch represented Wes Anderson’s first live-action film since 2014’s Grand Budapest Hotel - though he cranked out the animated Isle of Dogs between those two. Anderson returned fairly quickly to live-action with 2023’s Asteroid City.

Set in 1955, we go to Asteroid City, a fictional spot in the US Southwest named due to a massive “impact crater” at its core. At this location, young astronomy buffs gather for the Junior Stargazer Convention, and this group includes military photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartman), his brainy son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and daughters Andromeda (Ella Faris), Pandora (Gracie Faris) and Cassiopeia (Willan Faris).

They arrive cloaked in tragedy, as Augie’s wife (Margot Robbie) recently died but he keeps this from the kids. As Augie copes with loss, he and his offspring meet others at the astronomical festival who bring new twists to their lives.

That synopsis simplifies matters greatly, especially because it ignores the film’s unusual framework. Rather than simply present the affairs of Augie and company on their own, City posits these events as part of a play within the movie.

A TV play, for that matter, one conducted in the stilted 1950s fashion and narrated by an unnamed host (Bryan Cranston). City blurs a lot of lines and also gets into the backstories for the fictional actors involved.

Does all this serve a purpose obvious to anyone other than Anderson? Perhaps, but City nonetheless strikes me as yet another one of Anderson’s self-indulgent experiments.

As I’ve said in prior reviews of Anderson’s works, he crossed the line into self-parody at least a decade ago, and maybe more. His films feel like stylistic enterprises with a challenge involved to see if Anderson can ever go too “Wes Anderson” even for his small but devoted cult.

If I give Anderson the benefit of the doubt and accept that he makes movies he wants to make and doesn’t simply create ever-more-insular efforts intended just for the already converted, I could admire his course. If nothing else, Anderson has never “sold out” and attempted to broaden his audience beyond the aforementioned cult.

And if you belong to that faction, enjoy yourself. I suspect you’ll get something out of City the rest of us don’t.

Even more than prior Anderson flicks, though, City just feels clever-clever for no organic reason. The “play within the film” conceit goes absolutely nowhere and feels like a pretentious meta gambit that just turns silly.

Of course, Anderson does little to expand his emotional palette. This means essentially the standard sequence of deadpan performances and characters who react to impactful stimuli the same way they’d deal with spilled pancake batter.

Anderson does attempt something a bit more philosophical toward the end – but only a little. Anderson seems unsure how to wrap up the tale in a coherent manner, so all this eventually sputters.

As usual, Anderson gathers an impeccable cast. In addition to those already named, we find a slew of stars like Tom Hanks, Willem Dafoe, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Steve Carell and a bucket of others.

Inevitably, City forces them into the flat performance style Anderson favors. A few seem to slightly rebel – or just find themselves unable to fit with that tone – but the end result nonetheless feels stuck in Anderson’s usual vibe.

All of this becomes a tiresome journey into Anderson’s cinematic fetishes. Maybe someday Anderson will expand his horizons and give us something less arch and self-conscious, but City doesn’t become that project.

Asteroid City appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.37:1 and of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie used 1.37:1 for parts that depicted the 1950s TV drama, whereas the rest of the material came 2.39:1 – though it also briefly windowboxed Stargazer shots at 1.37:1 within the 2.39:1 frame.

Whatever the dimensions, sharpness worked fine. The movie opted for a semi-gauzy vibe that left delineation as a bit airier than normal, but it suited the tale and seemed well-defined as a whole.

No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

Colors went with a sense of teal and orange so heavy it’d make Michael Bay blush. We did get red clothing and a smidgen of green light, but these didn’t act as prominent elements. It seemed unclear to me why Anderson went with this over the top stylistic choice, but the hues felt well-depicted within these decisions.

Blacks felt dark and dense, while low-light shots seemed smooth and clear. This turned into a satisfying rendition of the film.

Though not especially ambitious, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio opened up at times. The movie came with a moderate amount of directional dialogue and also used score from the various channels in a pleasing manner.

Effects often lacked a lot to do, but the track popped to life somewhat at times. Given the nature of the story, the mix opted for a less than realistic feel to the settings, but used the speakers in a way that suited the tale.

Audio quality pleased, with speech that appeared natural and distinctive. Music felt full and well-reproduced.

Effects appeared accurate and tight, with nice range. The audio never dazzled but it seemed more than satisfactory.

The Making of Asteroid City goes for seven minutes, 20 seconds. It brings notes from writer/director Wes Anderson.

He tells us about sets and locations and cast, but “Making” mainly just shows some shots from the production. In theory, those sound good, but in reality, they don’t add much.

Indeed, when I saw that “Making” split into four chapters, I figured I’d get a nice long documentary, not barely seven minutes of footage. This means we get a few worthwhile elements but nothing that really gives us much about the movie’s creation.

A second disc brings a DVD copy. It includes the same featurette as the Blu-ray.

Another day, another stiff and overly stylized film from Wes Anderson. Asteroid City fits in with his cinematic MO, so expect the same old same old here. The Blu-ray comes with largely positive picture and audio as well as a short featurette. Wes is gonna Wes, so go into City with that understanding.