* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: There are those who believe [[spoiler:Klaus sabotaged the helicopter to get Ned out of the picture and take his place as Steve's surrogate son.]] Futhermore, due to [[spoiler:Ned's posthumous appearance in the ending credits roll call, some believe that his death was faked by Steve for ratings.]]
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Search and Destroy".
** Creator/SeuJorge's Brazilian Portuguese covers of Music/DavidBowie.
** Music/SigurRos. Full stop.
* GeniusBonus: Why is the boat called the Belafonte? Well, about every aspect of Steve Zissou was taken from Jacques Cousteau, whose boat was called Calypso. Music/HarryBelafonte was a musician who ''sang'' calypso!
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Some critics accused the film's basic story and characterization of being too similar to that of Creator/WesAnderson's previous film, ''Film/TheRoyalTenenbaums'', and didn't feel that the stylistic differences were enough to justify the similarity.
* MemeticMutation: [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/215/782/559 This]] promotional image of Creator/WillemDafoe became a [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fresh-willem-dafoe-vs-lighthouse-willem-dafoe meme]] in late 2020, in combination with his character from ''Film/TheLighthouse''.
* NightmareFuel: The description of Esteban's death after the unseen jaguar shark attack.
-->'''Steve:''' Eaten! Esteban was eaten!\\
'''Klaus:''' He was swallowed whole?\\
'''Steve:''' No! ''Chewed!''
* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Ned's very sudden death.]]
** The scene where they [[spoiler:find the Jaguar Shark and Steve decides not to kill it; "I wonder if it remembers me?"]]
** It goes into SugarWiki/FunnyMoments territory when he reveals they were out of dynamite.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: All of the sea creatures are animated in stop-motion, and they are absolutely breathtaking.
----