"Poems Don't Have to Rhyme, They Just Have to be Creative."

Rating: 9/10 (15 November 2012)

Moonrise Kingdom is a quasi fantasy film about love. While the main plot line is the most obvious romance story, there are other stories of love embedded here as well. From the Scout Master who loves his job, to wife cheating on her husband with the Captain, to her dissolving marriage to her husband. Love is the theme of this picture.
What is most striking is that the love story between the two children is the most pure, most real love shown in the film. It shows the wonder and beauty that such innocence can bring when it's combined with a deep love of someone.
The shots in the film are captivating and lovely, with the final one bringing tears to my eyes. There are also subtle and not so subtle moments of humor. Bill Murray has some great lines that are easy to miss. He's an alluring actor as always, and brings a quiet joy to the film that always supplements Wes Anderson's oddball style. Most importantly there is a heart to Moonrise Kingdom that few films can match.
As with most Wes Anderson films this is quirky almost to the extreme. But I reject the notion that this film is pretentious. It's the opposite. It is pure, it is a wonderful meditation of what love should be and how as we age and grow more cynical its true meaning becomes lost on us. Love is a poem that doesn't need to rhyme. But the longer we're without it the more we demand that it does.