Moonrise Kingdom (2012) review

(10/10)

I've been waiting to see this film for what I've heard about it, though I haven't seen any of Wes Anderson's work. However, I believe this was a good introduction to his direction style, because I almost immediately fell in love with it.

PLOT:Sam (Jared Gilman) is a boy scout who is an orphan that nobody really likes. Suzy (Kara Haywood) is a weird girl with several brothers and is known to her parents as the problem child. These two meet curiously one night at a play and fall in love at first sight. They start to write to each other and about a year later, they devise a secret plan to meet up and run away with each other. Sam resigns from his troop and sneaks away, and Suzy packs her stuff and runs away from her home. After they meet up and run away, a search party is formed between policeman Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), Suzy's dad, Mr. Bishop (Bill Murray), Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton), Mrs. Bishop (Frances McDormand), and the other scouts. Will the two twelve-year-olds get away with their loving escape in this September of 1965? I'll leave you there. It's a great plot executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The acting in here was excellent. Each performance was unique and carefully staged. Jared Gilman and Kara Haywood as Sam and Suzy had to be a couple of the best child actors I've seen lately. They performed very well. The film revolves more around them than the talented adult actors. The other shiners would be Bruce Willis as Captain Sharp, Bill Murray as Mr. Bishop, Frances McDormand as Mrs. Bishop, Edward Norton as Scout Master Ward, Tilda Swinton as Social Services, Harvey Keitel as Commander Pierce, Jason Schwartzman as Cousin Ben, Bob Balaban as the narrator, and  Gabriel Rush as Skotak. There really wasn't a bad performance in this film.

SCORE:The score was fun and quirky and really helped the film flow better with its overall feeling.



CAMERAWORK:I can see the direction of Wes Anderson has a lot in store just due to the camerawork in this film. The camerawork in this film is clean cut and unique both at the same time, giving Anderson the better hand as a director.

EFFECTS:There weren't that many effects, but they were fairly realistic of what I saw. They were realistic and vivid, from the blood to the fire to the lightning.



OTHER CONTENT:This film evoked so many feelings and emotional stirs in me that I didn't expect it to find. The film is quirky, fun, sad, and romantic. The feeling of teenage adolescense between the two main characters, their dream of being able to run away, and the love they had for each other in the few hours they had all found my sense of passion and hit a hidden emotion of wanting a simple relationship as they had. You will too, if you have the right mindset. The adventure, romance, and wacky quirks of the film all draw together to make a truly compelling teenage dream of a simple relationship.

OVERALL,an epic film with a brilliant plot, excellent performance, quirky score, clean cut camerawork, realistic effects, romance, a passion for a simple relationship, and a sense of quirky adventure.