Two misfit kids fall in love and decide to run away together.

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2012)

I agree with some of the other reviewers that this is Anderson's best film so far. The tone is consistent, the story is fun, and the characters have depth, particularly the two main characters, Sam and Suzy (the kids). (The quirkiness level has been handled with great restraint and is "just right" -- if things were more quirky I think the film would have spiraled out of control.) Visual themes I thought were interesting included "size" and intricate "boxes within boxes." For example, in one shot, three little kids play Parcheesi on the floor of their house; they are giants in the foreground. As they play, their father walks down a set of stairs and out a door -- he's tiny! This visual image develops story and plot as the kids are, in this story, more adult than the adults in many ways. Also, the opening sequence opens on a house, which looks like a doll house as we go from room to room -- and then eventually we see the same house as a painting within the house -- boxes within boxes. Very cool. I found the art direction to be quite wonderful.