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Hovering around the charming center of Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" are a collection of cotton-candy pink pastry boxes, delicately filigreed with

the word "Mendel's" and bound with a powder-blue ribbon tied with the utmost care. And inside? Inside are the most exquisite pastries you ever did see, each

looking more delectable than the next.

In their own way, those pink boxes are perfect emblems of the film that contains them. Indeed, they are emblematic of nearly all of Anderson's films:

precious, artful things and a delicacy, every one.

When people say, "They don't make movies like that anymore," they are wrong. Wes Anderson makes movies like that anymore, and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" --

part comedy caper, part adventure, and all quirky, embraceable whimsy -- is proof.

As he does so often in his films, Anderson performs a series of high-wire acts with "Grand Budapest Hotel," walking those exceedingly fine lines separating

absurdist and artful, humorous and heartfelt, weird and warm. What plays out feels very much like a bedtime story for grown-ups, an old-school tale set

between the wars at the posh titular resort, located in the fictional eastern European country of Zubrowka.

At the heart of it all is Monsieur Gustave H., the very proper and very dedicated concierge at the swank Grand Budapest (Ralph Fiennes, fantastic), and his

loyal new lobby boy (played with deadpan perfection by newcomer Tony Revolori).
Wes AndersonWES ANDERSON ON "THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL": "I expected it to be a more gently paced kind of movie. ... When we were writing it, it just shifted

gears, and it went into this faster rhythm." Read a full interview with "Grand Budapest Hotel" director Wes Anderson. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, Nola.com /

The Times-Picayune)

As concierges go, M. Gustave is something approaching legendary, boasting as he does -- like Anderson -- a fetishist's eye for detail. He's so dedicated to

the service of others (Gustave, not Anderson) that he's willing to cater to even the most the intimate needs of his guests. That's especially true if they

happen to be elderly, wealthy, blonde and willing to write him into their wills.

That's exactly what happens when the elderly Madame D. (Tilda Swinton, nearly unrecognizable in impressive age makeup) unexpectedly keels over. That launches

M. Gustave -- and audiences -- into a breathless, surrealist farce involving a stolen masterpiece, a prison break, a relentless assassin, a handful of

bodies, a group of Nazi-like soldiers -- and those lovely pink pastry boxes.

Along with Gustave every step of the way is lobby boy Zero, a character who is very much a living, breathing Anderson hallmark. Not only is the actor playing

him a relative newcomer to acting -- with only a handful of a minor roles under his belt, just how Anderson seems to like them -- but the charter himself is

a likeable outsider, a young oddball trying to find his way with some help from an older mentor.

Zero by no means represents the only Anderson-esque flourish in "The Grand Budapest Hotel." From the vibrant colors to the quirky visual style, to the very

cast -- which includes smallish roles for a raft of frequent Anderson collaborators, including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and

others -- it fits neatly into the Anderson oeuvre. Add to it the lush production design from Adam Stockhausen, as well a balalaika-rich score that ranks as

some of composer Alexander Desplat's finest work since "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" feels very much like a

full-package film.
'The Grand Budapest Hotel' movie trailer Opens March 7, 2014

Of course, having the right pieces and putting them together properly can be two vastly different things. Here, though, Anderson assembles them expertly.

In a nutshell, that's just what he does. He isn't just a filmmaker, he's a creator of worlds -- precious, airtight worlds that don't so much feel like

duplicates of our world as much as they do motorized dollhouses representing our world.  (In "Grand Budapest," that feeling is enhanced by his charming

incorporation of some of the stop-motion tricks he honed while creating his animated "Fantastic Mr. Fox.")

There are moments of depth there as well, as Anderson touches on themes of friendship and loyalty. More than anything else, though, "The Grand Budapest

Hotel" is just a fun ride -- a wild, wonderful ride seemingly plucked out of Anderson's dream journal.

It is also a film to be savored, like those sublime confections inside the pink boxes from Mendel's -- sweet and colorful and, best of all, entirely

satisfying