a gorgeous and moving tale of love and maturity through the innocence of children

Rating: 10/10 (2 June 2012)

It would be hard in modern day cinema to find a director that is more committed to a style of filmmaking and construction of story and characters than Wes Anderson. A modern day auteur of sorts, Anderson has created films such as The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; films that display deep characters and explore the relationships between people who don't always outwardly convey their emotions. Stories of love, family, and growing up, his films have gained a semi-cult following (semi-cult because Anderson is well known, but does have a large group of die-hards as well) from the inventive styles Anderson uses as a director and his clever and moving writing.
With all of this in mind, it is hard to not see Moonrise Kingdom as the culmination of everything Wes Anderson has offered in the past coming to a complete precipice as the most Anderson-y film to dateand possibly his best work.
Moonrise Kingdom is the story of a young, outcast boy and a troubled young girl who find friendship and love on a small New England island in the 1960s. But this isn't a simple story of young love. It can't be, considering Anderson is one of the co-pens behind the project. The film contains a deep story of mature innocence; the innocence of children running away to live together separated from the people that hurt them everyday, but with the maturity given to these characters as if they were adult fugitives running away from their troubles and enemies. This film is adorable and cute, but it is not built as a simple child friendship story. It is, at times, violent, frightening, and even sexual. While still containing the innocence of these children, Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola place these characters in scenarios well beyond their age, but honest and real.
And this is one of the many refreshing things about this film.
The young boy and girl that run away are Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward). Sam is a Khaki Scout (think Boy Scout) that is at a camp on the same island that Suzy lives on year-round with her lawyer parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand). The island is small, only home to a handful of residents, the khaki scouts during the summer, lead by Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton), and looked after by Island Police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis).
To read the rest of the review (IMDb form is too short) visit: http://custodianfilmcritic.com/moonrise-kingdom/