I'd disagree. Far from his best, but still great, and quite unique to boot.

Fellini's And the Ship Sails On is set on a cruise ship at the start of the First World War, filled with opera glitterati and princely music fans attending a funeral at sea for the world's greatest soprano (perhaps inspired by La Callas who had died 6 years prior the release of the film). It's all shenanigans until Serbian refugees are brought on board at the pivot point. Form and subject are pretty brilliantly combined in the film's highly stylized format. It starts as a silent documentary, adds sound and fiction, then dialog, then color, then cinematic contrivances like (operatic) musical numbers and a fourth wall-breaking narrator in the character of Freddie Williams' journalist. At its crescendo, it will turn to more modern metatextual elements as a way to expose cinema's artificiality. The Ship Sails On, and that ship is cinema. But this is really the Gilded Age veneer, disconnected from the lower classes and suffering. The pivot might push the elite to political thought here, but not to political action. And what seems like a waking up call of naturalism is proven to be just another layer of stylism. Even beyond the political message, Fellini juggles a large cast effortlessly - despite the furious introductions, everyone stands as memorable - and impresses with old-school effects and charming moments.

I like this one as much as anything Fellini made.