Review of Moonrise Kingdom (2012) by Skybluejamie6 — 26 May 2012

I entered the cinema in a dyer, melancholy mood. Truthfully, I was expecting that Wes Anderson's latest release would lift that mood judging purely from the quirkiness of the trailer, and I was not mistaken. Immediately, I was struck by the fluency of the shots in the opening scene and vibrant setting of which it was shot, yet it was obvious from the build-up to the movie that it would be a fresh and innovative piece of art. What struck me most was the social depth of the film; character relationships reflected aspects of our western culture in sexual awareness, rejection of the different and strange, the relentlessness of authoritative figures in following the 'regime' and our (the peoples') despise at these particular figures, and the list can lengthen to however far you would like to think.

It was great how characters like Bruce Willis and Edward Norton were in their standard roles, a cop and a leader of a group respectively, yet the characters they played would be judged upon by their typical caricatures as pathetic and laughable - subtly showing how they were willing to place a comedic value on those roles and literally 'take the piss' out of them/themselves. Wes Anderson placed other subtle referenced jokes aimed at big movies (such as Shawshank and The Big Lebowksi), personifying the film, as if it was saying "Hey, i'm good too, but I don't have to be serious." I found the comedic value of the film light, witty and pleasant and it genuinely placed a smile upon my face.

On a personal level, what I took from the movie was a simple, and somewhat obvious message, of love can be obtained between the most different and weird people and in the end, it will always manage to blossom. This, in a way, I found enlightening being an 18 year old who desires love and affection but feels out of place in present day society, and this film told me "look, that is a good thing, a great thing, hope remains.