Magical

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2012)

Wes Anderson has created a magical world with a superb cast including two twelve year olds who match the talents of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, and Harvey Keitel. Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman are Suzy and Sam, a couple of outcasts who have no friends and are considered trouble by the adults around them. Sam is a foster child struggling with loneliness, and Suzy is an introvert; and they seem to have been fated to meet, and when they do, a pen pal relationship develops. Sam is at a boy scout camp on an island, and Suzy is living with her mother and father, with three younger brothers in a seemingly perfect house with white picket fence, and everything in its place. Sam runs away, as does Suzy, and they find each other and escape with a tent and other gear to get away from the elders who don't understand them. Although very young, the pair have a connection which belies their age. This is basically a love story. The settings are striking, with strong red and blue pastels, the houses perfect, in a Norman Rockwell kind of way. The style reminded me of Jean Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs, another quirky film. I was caught up with the story from start to finish. Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman are exceptional finds by Anderson, and they are able to carry Moonrise Kingdom to a level of true art.