Do you like Wes Anderson?

Rating: 6/10 (18 December 2015)

Is probably the only question you should ask yourself before watching this movie. If you like him, you will probably like "Moonrise Kingdom", even if it is not his best effort. If you are not into his kind of quirky comedy, better look somewhere else.
The story is basic enough: a couple of teenagers fall in love and work out a plan to flee together. And then a lot of Anderson's typical characters try to catch them.
Almost all of Anderson's movies kind of center around people running from one place to another, while making deadpan faces and meeting strange people in strange circumstances. "Moonrise Kingdom" is not the exception, but here he kind of turns the sock inside out by making the story go around a couple of 12-year-old kids and putting them in adults situations. It's like they were doing a school play, as you will have kids playing the couple in love, the antagonist, the colleagues of the guy, who don't like him much and are ordered to catch the fleeing couple... There are some quite funny moments, like the showdown in the middle of the woods. And the young actors raise to the occasion and do a very good job with the material.
In that respect, Anderson does a great job, and you will feel for these 12-year-old plight. On the other hand, Anderson doesn't stretch even one millimeter. Have you seen one of his movies? Well, you kind of have watched all, with little variations, and "Moonrise Kingdom" is not the exception. On the contrary, take out the teenagers as the center of the story, and it follows his book more than, for example, "The Grand Budapest Hotel". All his trademarks (camera shots, filming of the action, actors (hello grumpy Bill Murray!), etc, appear here).
So if you like him, you will love his and his characters antics. But he should try something a little bit more challenging.