This young love is indeed sweet and delightful
Moonrise Kingdom is a typical Wes Anderson film (The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox) - quirky, charming and extremely funny.. It is about a 12-year old couple, Sam and Suzy, who run away to an isolated island somewhere off the coast of New England, causing an absolute chaos in the respective families.
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| Someone's missing, chief? |
Sam and Suzy met first time during a church performance by Benjamin Britten, causing love at first sight for both of them. They become pen pals, sharing their secrets and day to day incidents. Both of them had their problems - Sam was an orphan and least popular among his fellow boy scouts and his foster parents; while Suzy felt neglected by her parents and often thought that she was a 'troubled child'. Hence, both of them made a plan to run away. Khaki Scout leader Randy Ward (Edward Norton) creates a search party of boy scouts to find them, while Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) also engages in search.
Both the leads, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward gave a very natural and unforced performance which is rather rare to find in the age group of pre-teens. Edward Norton and Bill Murray (playing father of Suzy) are absolute delight to watch - specially Norton, whose comic timing is impeccable. We also have Tilda Swinton in a short role of Social Services official - she is just amazing.
Strength of Moonrise Kingdom, however, is its writing - the whole story evokes nostalgia - bed-time story feel, much to the credit of Wes Anderson, he treated this film as a part-fantasy. If there is anything such as 'visual comic timing', then Wes Anderson is a master of it. The dialogs are witty and clever and there is never a dull moment in the 96-minutes run time. Music by Alexandre Desplat is whimsical and as always, fits perfectly to the film.
Moonrise Kingdom is an amazing film - it feels that you have seen the landscapes, the characters in your childhood - which is the best thing about the film. However, a word to parents of small kids - there is a scene involving both the leads where they explore their sexuality - which might be too bold for some of the audiences' taste. Rest is highly entertaining, joyful and funny ride. Don't miss it.
3.5/5
3.5/5
