I know that I said that I wasn’t going to do any of the Wes Anderson movies that I had previously watched, but there was a live Q and A with Wes Anderson, so I couldn’t help myself.
Moonrise Kingdom is one of the best representations of Wes Anderson’s writing style. While movies like Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr. Fox offer a look at his visual styles, his ability to write really shines in this movie. Wes Anderson’s common use of disguising complex and dark themes with comedy and unique characters is more prominent than ever in this one. This movie really works in so many ways. The cast includes some famous actors like Bruce Willis and Edward Norton, but, it also introduces some new child actors as the main characters. These characters are cast perfectly, and while I think that there were certainly some problems with their reading, I think that overall, they really did a great job that I admired. Comedy in this movie works because of the deep characters that compliment it. Wes Anderson movies take a premise and makes it real, no matter what the plot is, Anderson manages to make all the characters and overall ideas relatable enough to carry an entire film. The number of moments in this film that will forever be engraved into my mind (the beach scene) tells me how memorable this movie is. It’s truly charming, and it explores the wonders of young love and childhood as a whole. This movie does have a strong emotional payoff, and the ending really is satisfying. The music fits with everything perfectly. Really, my biggest complaint with this would be the number of unnecessary scenes that seemed jammed in. Moonrise Kingdom’s story is simple enough, that it seemed like a lot of scenes were filmed just to fill some more time. There were also some shots that seemed to break the strong colour pallet and camera placement. When these scenes came up, they were extremely noticeable, and kind of annoying. Overall, it is a good movie that I would strongly recommend. 9.4/10
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