Dir: Wes Anderson | Scr: Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola | Ph: Robert D. Yeoman | Prod: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven M. Rales, & Scott Rudin | Mus: Alexandre Desplat | Ed: Andrew Weisblum | PD: Adam Stockhausen | AD: Gerald Sullivan | Snd: Craig Henighan | Cast: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, Bob Balaban
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An orphaned, friendless 12-year-old boy scout runs away with his equally unpopular new girlfriend, pursued by his scoutmaster and troop, her parents, and a local police officer (who is having an affair with the girl’s mother). Caught and chastised, there appears to be little chance for this budding love to bloom. However, when the boy’s fellow scouts switch allegiances and break the pair of them out of their respective jails, their adventure continues at pace. Never the less, with the added attentions of Social Services and another scout troop, not to mention the threat of an ever encroaching storm, their quest proves to be anything but a simple one, in Anderson’s entertaining but relatively disappointing romantic comedy-drama. With a tone similar to his weakest film – The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) – Moonrise Kingdom lacks that gentle whiff of melancholy that has so often helped to balance out the quirkier moments in the best of his films. Generally good fun, though.
