Moonrise Kingdom Review

 

Confused looking adults looking for their kids is Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom

 A+ 

 A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Every year there is at least one film that comes out in June or early July that reinvigorates my spirit for the rest of the year to come. In 2009 it was Michal Mann’s underrated Public Enemies, in 2010 it was the animated dynamite Toy Story 3, in 2011 it was Terrence Malick’s masterpiece the Tree of Life, and this year it’s the small and whimsical Wes Anderson gem Moonrise Kingdom. Moonrise Kingdom is a magical, emotional, often time’s funny, and always an absolute blast to watch. 

Moonrise Kingdom follows two outcast kids, an orphan scout Sam (newcomer Jared Gilman), and a violent and depressed girl who lives with a large family Suzy (newcomer Kara Hayward) who, after being pen pals for about a year, run away to an island together. Hot on their tales is a dysfunctional search team. The featured searchers are scout master Ward (Edward Norton), the head of the town’s police force Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), Suzy’s lawyer parents Walt and Laura (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), and a orphanage worker named Social Services (Tilda Swinton). Together they attempt to track down the couple as while as dealing with problems of their own.

The magic of a Wes Anderson film is that the characters seem to be the only ones in the film’s fantastical little world. Sure we are to believe that the film is set in a town in New England in the 1960’s but the town always has a superficial feeling too it. This never detracts from the emotional connection to the characters though as Anderson always finds the time to add substance to even the most offbeat moments; especially with the relationship between the two main characters. If I had one problem with the film is that at times it’s a little self indulgent and some of the shots are a little too painstakingly thought out for their own good. These problems, despite being present, never manage to take away from the sheer entertainment and emotional connection that Anderson achieves throughout the film. 

Most of this is to the credit of the amazing cast. Apparently (according to the very limited release) people don’t care about Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Francis McDormand, Edward Norton, and Tilda Swinton anymore. All of the supporting players are fantastic and keep this film together. Murray and McDormand work beautify as the unhappy laid back lawyer parents, Willis manages a fine performance as the dull, sad sack police man, Tilda Swinton is mean and nasty, and Edward Norton is amazingly deadpan throughout the whole movie. Much of the fun is through how straight the actors play each role. These are not actors acting like they’re in a comedy and it makes some of the more outrageous moments even funnier.

Of course the meat and potatoes of this film are the performances by the two leads; newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. Both performances are immaculate as you can feel how emotionally broken each one is from the first moments they’re on screen. Their relationship is fantastic and turns what could have been some weird and awkward scenes into scenes that carry true emotional power and weight.

This is a Wes Anderson so the visual style must be unique. In this case it’s the color; there is never a grey moment here with bright colors (especially greens and yellows) in almost every shot. Also the score is fantastic and mixes in old and odd songs with great original pieces that help set the tone and atmosphere. It all clicks too and it gives the film the tone of an adult fairy tale. Heck there’s even a narrator (Bob Balaban who has some of the funnier moments in the film).

Moonrise Kingdom is an amazing film that that delivers on both style and substance. It delivers a unique visual style along with a heartfelt tale of two young lovers trying to escape the real world. It also manages to be smart, funny, emotional, and a big breath of fresh air to the so far fairly stale opening half of 2012.