Review of Moonrise Kingdom (2012) by Spencer S — 05 Jul 2013

Wes Anderson, master of the aesthetically colorful, whimsical, sixties' tinged madness, outdoes even himself with a trope set in the very decade he draws from the most. Right down to the period clothing, sets, and a clickety typewriter to boot, this reeks of its time period, but at the same time it isn't mashed into your face.

The setting for the film is much more magical and whimsical than it is cloaked in nostalgia. Set on an island that cannot be reached except by ferry and plane, making cars essentially useless, it has an otherness to it even while retaining the same base characteristics of Anderson's usual troupe of characters.

Time period only lends interesting visuals, and doesn't ultimately define the characters. All characters are quirky, especially the troop that includes the lead character, Sam (Gilman), who are all instinctive about their natural environment, and testy about procedure, and yet are represented as normal kids rebutting the outsider.

Even the troop leader, played by Edward Norton, thinks that Sam is an eccentric, and an oddity, so when Sam runs away to be with a girl who he has met once and wrote for a year, he is incensed, and yet begins to become thoughtful about the boy.

The entire film follows the irregular course that these young lovers take, both odd to the outside world but much more mature than they're given credit for. Besides the love story there are the stories of the inhabitants of the island, including a police officer, the troop leader, and the family of the girl.

Though the film is one of a tragic romance between young people, a great coming of age story, and of course a tale of an adventurous hero keeping the wolves at bay, it is also funny, sweet, and soft spoken.

The young couple are really interesting, and in every scene they try to stay eternally bound and yet are kept apart by the obvious age issue. Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are very talented and yet are amateurs, so they keep the innocence of their age and yet bring forth the understanding of young, ambitious teenagers.

The one point that irritates me is that the story of the family isn't well told, the characters are a bit flat, and the relationship between the mother and the policeman is the most boring aspect of the entire movie and yet is supposed to yield some untold insight into the lives of the island residents.

It felt so pointless, except to show his willingness to look towards the future, and that's barely alluded to. This is another Anderson best, but compared to the detailed lives of his past characters, these only sometimes get the briefest of introductions.