- Childlike and maturely romantic
Although I caught this movie a few
months back, it sort of got pushed to the side for reviews of other
things, but since I had a bit of a lull before the upcoming November
movies really get rolling, I decided to review this now. Like so
many artistic and arguably misunderstood directors and writers, I had
not seen a Wes Anderson movie so, thankfully, I was going into the
unknown. Something I prefer to do when going into all movies (though
obviously incapable of doing so for so many) I never looked at the
cast, nor did I know the genre. All I knew was that it was made by
“the guy” who did The Royal Tenenbaums. So really when you look
at the title Moonrise Kingdom, you can't blame me for thinking I
might be getting a fantasy movie. While there certainly are small
parts that could be called fantasy, it is hardly that. In any case,
I digress.
The movie begins with a meteorologist
giving a warning of an impending hurricane, the audience is
introduced to some children, a girl in a quirky family home and a
Scouts troop that is run by Scout Master Ward
(played by Edward Norton). You won't know how these three
things are connected for a little while, but eventually they
intertwine and you are left with one story line. Two children meet
and a connection is formed. You watch it blossom along with quite a
bit of foreshadowing from the narrator (played by Bob Balaban). The
metaphor between the storm and the rest of the story is interesting
if not a bit cliché.
A child's love as shown akin to
lovestruck teens or young adults may throw people for a loop. I
certainly have heard ridiculous cries that the director Wes Anderson
is a pedophile because of this movie which is silly: art and the
creator are not strictly related and even then, within this movie it
is all done between two consenting children, so the term of pedophilia is actually incorrect. There is no child nudity in this
movie and the sex is only implied between the two kids. I mention
this right away as it's one of the larger complaints I've heard about
the movie and I feel pretty strongly that this movie does not hold
some pro-pedophilia agenda. The second thing in this movie that may
get you is an animal gets viciously killed and while you don't see
the act, the scene sticks out as just that extra little push to the
bounds of necessity. Someone gets stabbed in the kidneys, and I
think most of the audience got the message, the dog stabbing was
really just overkill, pardon the pun.
The real class of this movie is seen by
the actors' performances and the overall arcing story of the two
children Sam (played by Jared Gilman) and Suzy (played by Kara Hayward). I found pieces of their story to be weak but the overall
sense to be quite grand and heartfelt. Bruce Willis' character also
caught my eye as a loving man just trying to do his best in the small
village, this was good acting on his part since his usual roles are
sci-fi and action. I feel you get to see the real acting of an actor
when they break out of their type-cast shell. Willis is mostly known
for his action movies and actors don't get to do much but walk away
from explosions and deliver one-liners (not that there is anything
wrong with that) but not a lot of action movies are known for getting
Best Actor awards in any ceremony.
 |
| Every scout troop requires a nail bat. |
I really enjoyed the story of Moonrise
Kingdom and had a great laugh at the almost omniscient
narrator/character of Bob Balaban. The love story may be awkward to
some, but I felt it was shown intellectually and not in some
grotesque love story way. I'll admit the animal sequence was a bit
much but it is brief and shouldn't detract from the movie too much.
I give it a 8/10
PS: The explosion looked ridiculous
along with Edward Norton's flying jump.
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