Wes Anderson’s films are known for their color and whimsy, their quirky dialogues, and their impossibly star-studded casts. But what ties each of his movies together—wrapping up the awe-striking performances and the eye-candy settings into the perfect watching experiences—are the soundtracks.
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Many an Anderson film score has been just as magical as the movie, if not more so. Sweeping, atmospheric, and always apropos, these soundtracks are where original compositions, obscure songs, and smash hits all meet for a film’s worth of earworms.
With Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City, seeing its cross-country release Friday (June 23), we’ve ranked every one of his film’s soundtracks so far from worst to best.
10. Bottle Rocket (1996)
Bottle Rocket marked Anderson’s directorial debut and its soundtrack only offered little hints of what was to come in terms of the filmmaker’s musical decisions. Aptly scored by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, the 1996 quirky crime comedy featured a decent mix of scene-setters and foot-tappers.
9. Isle of Dogs (2018)
Scored by film composer and longtime Anderson collaborator Alexandre Desplat, the Isle of Dogs soundtrack features many of Desplat’s original compositions with several nods to classic Japanese cinema peppered in. The 2018 film’s soundtrack is not an immediate standout among other Anderson works. It is instead the painstaking stop-motion animation that makes Isle of Dogs a memorable one.
8. The French Dispatch (2021)
The soundtrack of 2021’s The French Dispatch, Anderson’s latest offering until now, is another that features the assistance of Desplat. The film, with its vintage sheen, is a visual pleaser; and the soundtrack, with its nods to French cinema, makes it the oddball faux-period piece that recently captivated audiences’ eyes and ears.
7. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Desplat and Mothersbaugh collaborated to bring the score of the 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom to life. The charming coming-of-age tale is punctuated by the film’s sweeping soundtrack, one that features everything from the orchestrations of famed composer Benjamin Britten to the country classics of Hank Williams.
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Not unlike The French Dispatch, the soundtrack to the 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel takes viewers to another time and place. Pulling from Russian folk influences, the film’s music – again a work of Desplat – is all-consuming, immersing audiences in a flood of dark, ominous hums from powerful symphonies.
5. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
The Darjeeling Limited is a movie with range, and with a soundtrack to match. The Kinks and the Rolling Stones peak through the 2007 film’s score, which also marries classic compositions from the likes of Debussy with influences from Indian cinema.
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Another of Anderson’s stop motion animated offerings, the 2009 film Fantastic Mr. Fox has a dynamic soundtrack fitting of the over-the-top film. Rife with haunting original compositions, but also full of contemporary flair, the overall score is the product of Desplat with assistance from The Beach Boys, Burl Ives, the Rolling Stones, and many more hitmakers.
3. Rushmore (1998)
Anderson’s sophomore act Rushmore was the first to showcase his magic with music. Riddled with essentials from The Kinks, Cat Stevens, The Who, Faces, and more, the score perfectly accentuates the 1998 film’s raucous coming-of-age narrative. The soundtrack again sees assistance from Mothersbaugh.
2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Royal Tenenbaums is another of Anderson’s films teaming with contemporary hits, like Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and John Lennon’s “Look at Me,” as well as orchestrations of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and the Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday.” Alongside a Mothersbaugh score, each one of the songs works to shape the film’s touching, albeit off-kilter, story.
1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
No other Anderson film soundtrack has done it quite like the 2004 project The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Along with a score from Mothersbaugh, the film features classics by the Stooges and the Zombies but mainly hits from David Bowie. Much of the soundtrack is compared to various Bowie tunes either sung by the icon himself or given an acoustic rendition sung in Portuguese. The all-over-the-place film received the perfect soundtrack.
Photo by Stefania M. D’Alessandro/Getty Images for Fondazione Prada
