Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson has achieved demigod status in the hearts of film fans and hipsters alike in the 14 years since Rushmore. I must admit I am as swept away by his quirkiness and unsmiling comedy as anyone, and a few of his movies I consider favorites. So to say I had high hopes for Moonrise Kingdom would be accurate.

Disappointingly, I wasn’t wowed. It wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. I expected a solid A from Anderson, another Darjeeling Limited or Royal Tenenbaums, but Moonrise Kingdom wasn’t quite there.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a quality film; some of you clever readers may have noticed I gave it a B+. It made brilliant use of some of Anderson’s favorite devices—the costumes, sets, acting, and one-liners were all satisfyingly Andersonian—filtered through the lens of a preppy New England vacation island. This former Boy Scout also appreciated the hilarious Khaki Scout chapters. Much of the casting was also quite good: Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman represented the director’s stable of favorites well and Bruce Willis and Edward Norton shined as the police officer and the scoutmaster, respectively.

Unfortunately, I felt the two protagonist roles (Sam and Suzy) were acted rather poorly. In a way I feel bad saying so because Jared Gilman (Sam) and Kara Hayward (Suzy) are children acting in their first movie, but the fact remains that most of their scenes failed to compel me. Too often they seemed to be forcing themselves into Wes Anderson’s standard of emotionless, unshakable stoniness. That approach works great if you are Owen Wilson or Bill Murray, but not if you are twelve years old and without the chops to handle it. The bottom line is that neither Gilman nor Hayward could handle as much screen time as they were given. And I feel the need to add that there was way too much child French kissing going on. Just sayin’, shit was weird.

But oddly, the weak acting on the part of the protagonists was not as detrimental to the film as one might expect. The scenery, cinematography, set design and stellar secondary characters made the movie fun to watch and downright hilarious. The slew of minor child characters was also wonderful; my favorites were Lazy Eye the eye-patched bugler (Charlie Kilgore) and Lionel, Suzy’s victimized younger brother (Jake Ryan). Without the responsibility of carrying entire scenes and plotlines, these characters were able to remain fun asides rather than disappointing centerpieces.

Like Anderson’s other films, Moonrise Kingdom made great use of the director’s detail-oriented aesthetic that is at once subtle and vibrantly kitschy. You get the sense that every book on the shelf and picture on the wall was painstakingly selected and placed with precision. This won’t be any surprise to those familiar with Anderson’s curriculum vitae; this film’s uniform-focused costumes are especially reminiscent of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

So, if you like Wes Anderson’s brand of film, Moonrise Kingdom will be an enjoyable afternoon at the movies. While it doesn’t live up to some of Anderson’s greatest hits, it might be worth seeing in theaters and is definitely worth renting (do people still do that?).