From the endlessly fertile and curious mind that has given us “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” comes “Asteroid City,” and while this latest curio may not scale the heights of this artist’s greatest hits, it’s more fun than almost anything out there.

Set in 1955 for reasons known only to writer-director Wes Anderson, and shot in the squarish academy ratio more common to those times, ”Asteroid City” begins with a host-narrator (Bryan Cranston) who reminds us that what we are about to see is entirely “imaginary” and “apocryphal.” He also introduces us to the hardworking writer Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), the creator of the world we about to inhabit. Soon, we behold a sign reading “Asteroid City.” It sits in the middle of a space suggesting the Arizona-Utah-straddling Monument Valley location director John Ford used for many of his Westerns. Its most important feature is a giant crater left by an incorrectly labeled and proudly displayed “asteroid.” Actually, it’s a meteorite, but who wants to see “Meteorite City?” The place is a natural-disaster based attraction that lures tourists. It has a cafe, a “one-pump gas station,” a spread of small bungalows and a collection of weird vending machines, one of which dispenses real estate.

We hear a rumble and see a mushroom cloud from a not-so-distant A-Bomb test. We meet vacationing war correspondent Augie Steenbeck (Anderson alter ego Jason Schwartzman), who drives a car with his “brainiac” adolescent son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) beside him in front and his three witchy little daughters in the back. Augie’s wife has died recently, and he hasn’t summoned up the nerve to break the news to his children yet. Augie and his kids arrive in Asteroid City just in time to notice that movie star Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) is also there, along with a newly arrived group of children being tended by their sweet-hearted schoolmarm Joan Douglas (Maya Hawke). Also in Asteroid City is scientist named Dr. Hickenlooper (Tilda Swinton, of course), a gun-slinging, oddball Motel Manager (Steve Carell), who knows how all the vending machines work, a kindly mechanic named Hank (Matt Dillon) and a romantic cowboy named Montana (Brit Rupert Friend). Two of Augie’s little girls identify as a vampire and mummy. We get to see what page of the script we are on at regular intervals in case we lose our place. Augie’s station wagon comically breaks down, forcing him to call his grieving and prickly father-in-law Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks), who also sports a small revolver in his belt. Stanley agrees to drive to Asteroid City and loan Augie and the children his rag-top Cadillac.

The outdoorsy setting, cowboys, amusement park atmosphere and aliens of “Asteroid City” recall Jordan Peele’s recent sci-fi brain-twister “Nope.” Augie reveals to his children that their mother’s ashes are in a Tupperware bowl he has with him. The girls decide to bury the bowl in a ceremony featuring made-up, magic-spell words. We also hear the magical words from Joseph J. Lilley and Frank Loesser’s 1950s hit “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle” on the soundtrack. The sci-fi angle and many odd children suggest a Yankee spin-off of “Village of the Damned.” Is that Burl Ives I hear from the radio of a passing car? “Asteroid City” later develops a definite “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” vibe. Is that why that film’s director Steven Spielberg is thanked in the end credits? In the strangest, most bittersweet scene in “Asteroid City,” the “actor” “playing” Augie meets the “actor” (Margot Robbie), who played his deceased wife, on a Broadway balcony. Is it a spoiler tell you that the person inside the goggle-eyed alien suit is Jeff Goldblum? Please discuss: How are all Wes Anderson films like Rorschach tests?

(“Asteroid City” contains brief nudity, smoking and suggestive content)

Rated PG-13. At the AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, AMC South Bay, Coolidge Corner and suburban theaters.