Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Review

The culprit- Wes Anderson on set

I might either be ashamed or happy to say that before this viewing I don't think I had ever sat down and watched a Wes Anderson film. Besides occasionally glancing over a younger relative watching "The Fantastic Mr Fox" or a showing of "Rushmore" on TV, I have never sat down and watched a single one of his films until this.
Whilst this film was enjoyable for the most part, there are a lot of problems that I have with it, both narrativly and several of the decisions made during the production itself. The plot itself is a typical Romeo and Juliet affair, two (very) young lovers fall in love after meeting at a play and both coming from troubled backgrounds. The respective families of the two children then try their hardest to try and get the children back and

separate them after they run off together. Mirroring the Montague's and the Capulet's of Shakespeare's classic. The climax of the film focuses on the two children's last attempt at happiness together escaping into a church during the night of a long and treacherous storm.

In terms of storyline I don't think that Moonrise Kingdom is anything that original or special. As I previously stated I just get the feeling that this film takes the template of Romeo and Juliet and does nothing new with it. There are two young lovers, there are two families that whilst not at war with each other, are certainly not friendly towards one another and there is also the attempted suicides of both the two children and their controversial marriage at such a young age. Now whilst I have a lot of complaints about this film I will talk about the things that I like before that.

The beauty of this film

In terms of style, this film is absolutely amazing. In terms of what we see, it feels as though there is so much happening on screen whilst its actually got quite a simplistic look to it. Let me explain that better, the look of the film is simplistic but there is something happening in every frame of this picture. The colour pallet is clearly hearkening back to the early 60's time period, with a real pastille look to it, those murky dirty yellows and the vibrant greens mixed in with the khaki brown of the aptly named Khaki Scouts uniforms. The realistic settings of the woods and the island itself adds to the feel of a childhood adventure film, very Spielbergian of Wes Anderson. The symmetrical framing of the shots used is in a word, beautiful. Its almost uncanny, everything is perfectly symmetrical, two children walking to meet each other, stopping at an equal distance so that if you put a mirror between them it would look perfectly symmetrical. Couple this with the long tracking shots used, it makes for a truly fluid feel, as if you are watching things happen in real time, such as when Scout Master Ward first wakes up and walks through his camp, we get to see everything he does in one swift fluid movement before examining the absurdly constructed tree house. The sepia tone again adds to the 60's feel of the film, and it adds to that classic home video vibe, in fact it quite reminds me of the home video sections of the horror film "Sinister" but I am a horror fan so I would notice something like that.
Similarly the set design and mise en scene of "Moonrise Kingdom" is again very childlike with houses designed to look like doll houses and formal dress and uniforms that remind me of school, again with the childlike feelings. This world that Wes Anderson brings us into for a little over 90 minutes is beautiful and fantastical and up until a certain point in the film I am living in this world with these characters. Let me reiterate, up until a certain point.

Almost impeccable cast

Now whilst for the most part I love the cast that is in this film, featuring some of my favourite actors with Bruce Willis playing the police Sheriff in charge of trying to hunt down the two children. Then we have the always enjoyable Edward Norton who plays the very child-like Scout Master Ward who despite being a math teacher and well into adulthood decides that he is best to spend his time teaching children survival skills and often acting more like a child than our two central characters. Bill Murray also stars as Suzy's father, giving his signature dry performances that are as enjoyable as always.
Now I am going to delve into the biggest problem that I have with this film. We are giving these two children, Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop, played respectively by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward who were both the age of 12 when the film was in production. Now this wouldn't be a problem, I don't have anything against child actors but due to the content of this film I have to take issue with it.
Not only is there sexual content in this film involving both of the children, but it is also alluded to that they might have committed the act of sexual intercourse. Which means that both of these pre teen children were exposed to this. From this moment on that was all I could focus on.
Wes Anderson, made a film in which it is alluded to that two children have sex. Wow. Should I focus all my dislike in this film on this scene? No of course not, but in all honesty it ruined the film for me. I was really enjoying the whole Spielberg feel to the whole thing, the escapism of feeling like a child again and going on adventures, but what bloody children's adventure film contains sexual content like this!?
Again granted we get a breast feel and that's about it, but did this happen in the Goonies? No. Did it happen in Peter Pan? No. Or even Super 8? Sure there are scenes of kids kissing, but again these kids are at least 14 so I can't complain really.

Now I have the issue of who exactly this film is for. Does it even have an audience? I would say that this film is for kids, it certainly feels like a kids film, one that's fun for the whole family but would I want kids watching two kids touching each other inappropriately and talking about how certain things are "hard" so of course I wouldn't suggest that children watch this film. Is it for adults? Possibly because there is a lot of adult content here, learning about how bodies change, and the acts of violence that Suzy commits. But then again will an adult audience want to sit there and watch two children fall in love and go on a rather strange adventure. Finally I think that this film would be most befitting for adolescents and teenagers. This film is sort of about them, growing up and shrugging off the nonsense that is childhood and taking on the responsibilities of adulthood. Then again with the majority of teenagers today, I could just see them sitting through this film and laughing at the absurdity and inappropriateness of certain scenes.

My overall feelings on this film are mixed. I love the style and initial  premise of the film, children going on an adventure perhaps there last in their pre-teen years, and of course the cast is amazing, with the likes of Ed Norton and Bruce Willis giving great performances like they usually do, and the colour of the film itself are just breath taking. However I do have to take rather a huge issue with this film simply because of its content and the fact that I really can not understand who the hell it is actually for. I might actually be pushed to urge people to watch this film just to see how they feel about it, but how Wes Anderson actually got away with the content of this film is beyond me. Watch it, really, just to see if you get as freaked out as I did.