The offbeat comedy stars Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, an eccentric oceanographer. In this ensemble cast, Steve Zissou sets out to exact revenge on the "Jaguar shark" that ate his partner Esteban. Murray's character is both a parody of and homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated.

It was released May 10, 2005 on DVD as part of The Criterion Collection.

This movie details the adventures of fallen-from-grace oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou (Bill Murray). While working on his previous documentary, his best friend Esteban du Plantier (Seymour Cassel) was eaten by an animal Zissou describes as a "Jaguar shark". For his next project, Zissou is determined to document the destruction of the creature.

Zissou's crew aboard his research vessel Belafonte includes Pelé dos Santos (Seu Jorge), a safety expert and Brazilian musician who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese; Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), a lovable German second-in-command who views Zissou and Esteban as father figures and feels threatened by Zissou's possible son, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson). Minor crew members include Vikram Ray (Waris Ahluwalia), a Sikh cameraman, described in Zissou's featured film documentary as a man "born on the Ganges"; Bobby Ogata (Niels Koizumi), Team Zissou's frogman who is usually seen eating; Vladimir Wolodarsky (Noah Taylor), crew experimentator and original score composer; Renzo Pietro (Pawel Wdowczak), screen editor; and Anne-Marie Sakowitz (Robyn Cohen), a usually topless script girl. Zissou's crew also include a pack of unpaid college interns from the (fictional) University of North Alaska.

Ned is a polite, innocent and childlike Southern gentleman whose mother has recently died. He believes that Zissou is his father and, after meeting Zissou at a film premiere, takes a break from his job as an airline pilot in Kentucky to join the Zissou crew. As no one else will finance the latest documentary, Ned agrees to finance the new film with his inheritance.

Zissou is also followed around by a reporter, and fan, Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett). She is also pregnant with her married boss's child. She eventually falls in love with Ned and, as a result, a rivalry develops between Ned and Zissou, because Zissou is himself infatuated with Jane.

On their mission to find the Jaguar Shark, the Belafonte crew has to deal with a murderous attack, kidnapping and theft by pirates. Sakowitz, along with all but one of the interns, jumps ship after the pirate raid. The interns who leave only get incompletes for this "course."

The Belafonte crew launch their own subsequent sneak attack on the pirates in order to retrieve their money and rescue a "bond company stooge" (Bud Cort) who had been hired by Zissou's producer Oseary Drakoulias (Michael Gambon). They also discover and rescue Zissou's nemesis, Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum). Hennessey is the opposite of Zissou: successful, suave, rich, and "part-gay".

Zissou also reunites with his wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston) who was once married to Hennessey.

While searching for the Jaguar Shark, the Belafonte's helicopter crashes, injuring Zissou and fatally injuring Ned. Although Eleanor reveals to Jane that Zissou is actually sterile and therefore Ned could not have been his son, Steve and Ned had become as close as a real father and son.