Moonrise Kingdom

 "Why do you consider me your enemy?"
"Because your girlfriend stabbed me in the back with lefty scissors."

Let's get this out in the open immediately: I am not a die-hard Wes Anderson fan like so many of my movie-watching friends. It's not that I don't like his films; it's that I find his films walk closely along the line between quirkiness and total nonsense, and several of his movies spend far too much time in the nonsense category for them to accomplish anything meaningful. Bottle Rocket was mediocre at best, I enjoyed Rushmore but only because of its unique concept, The Royal Tenenbaums is mostly nonsense with no point whatsoever (great cast though), I found The Life Aquatic hilarious, I absolutely loved Darjeeling Limited and I absolutely despised Fantastic Mr. Fox. With my feelings on Anderson's films being so up and down, I was nervous as to what I should expect from Moonrise Kingdom. I was pleased to discover that it is fantastic and is easily my favourite of his films to date.

Moonrise Kingdom is, at its heart, a love story. Sam (Jared Gilman) is an orphan, passed from foster home to foster home, with no real place in the world. Suzy (Kara Hayward) is a child that doesn't quite fit in with her family and is stuck on the fictional  island of New Penzance with no friends and nothing to do. The two of them hatch a plan to escape together from the world that has rejected them. The film follows their escape across the island and their awkward, developing relationship, culminating in a dance scene on a beach that literally had me in tears of laughter. Anderson's awkward, quirky style has finally found a perfect home with these two kids as their dialogue suits their characters perfectly.

The story is charming and you will root for the young lovers all the way to the end. My only complaint with the film is that it deals with some weighty topics but seems too afraid to further explore them. It is shown that Sam may have some serious anger issues resulting from the loss of his parents, but this is never discussed. Suzy has been completely ignored by her parents and finds solace in her fantasy books; her situation is extremely sad, but her isolation is briefly touched on. These kids find what they need in each other and it is very touching, but I feel like some more development in these other areas would have made the stakes a bit higher.

What puts this film above Anderson's usual fare is the characters. I find that the characters in his other films are too quirky and hard to relate to because their issues and they way they respond to them are so unnatural. The characters in this film, while quirky, finally seem like real people and you can easily empathize with their situations. The dialogue is very funny, and the audience I was with laughed all throughout the movie.

Both Gilman and Hayward are fantastic and watching their relationship develop is a joy. Gone are the days when child actors sound like they are reading their lines from a piece of paper. Gilman is completely hilarious as Sam and I am counting down the days until his next role; he is truly remarkable. His delivery of some of his more awkward lines is outstanding ("I love you, but you have no idea what you're talking about.") Sam must be one of the most quotable characters in recent memory. Hayward, with her intense glares, acts more with her face than with dialogue, and she is the perfect complement to Sam who never shuts up for more than two minutes. 

Edward Norton, his heyday long past gone, gives a great performance as Scout Master Ward, leader of the Khaki Scouts of which Sam escapes from. Bruce Willis, who I believe is great in almost everything (even if his movies aren't always top-notch), leads the expedition to find the runaways as Captain Sharp, the lonely cop on the island. Bill Murray (an Anderson staple) and Frances McDormand play Suzy's lawyer parents and are rather hilarious, particularly Murray. They speak to each other as if they are both in court and are trying to find ways to deal with the "disturbed child" that they see Suzy to be. 

I can't think of anyone who wouldn't like this movie. It is funny, charming and heartfelt, and it is hard to imagine someone being unable to find something to appreciate here. I see this movie as a huge win for Anderson and I look forward to seeing what he does next.