Moonrise Kingdom

3 pipes out of 4

The hidden kingdom of Moonrise has been found by millions of audiences and is easily the dark horse movie of the summer. Wes Anderson combines an all star cast of Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Frances McDormand to introduce Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman, the title characters who are the stereotypical oddballs who don’t fit in with their families.  The film is the epitome of cheesy which makes it all the more amazing. Instead of unintentional cheesy, the director takes every opportunity available to cheesify the film, such as most of the sets look as if they are on a stage. There is no attempt to make the film look like real life and actually goes through effort to remove the realness for instance calling Tilda Swinton’s character Social Services and no actual name. Through the use of awkward situations and interactions between characters and the stiff portrayal of the two children Suzy and Sam brings comedy throughout the film. With the introduction of Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman only Kara showed range and the ability to possibly expand on her career but both fulfill their roles for the film masterfully. Moonrise is not the movie for everyone, action is scarce and Jared Gilman develops his characters through lengthy dialogue and somewhat confusing flashbacks. Anderson often reverses the roles of the adults with the children giving the youth adult characteristics and the adults’ youthful stupidity.