13 Years Later, This 93%-Rated Dramedy Is Still the Best Wes Anderson Movie Out There
This movie will take you back to the happy years of your childhood.
13 years ago, Wes Anderson's best movie, which still holds that title, was released – Moonrise Kingdom. According to Anderson himself, this film is a living fantasy from his childhood.
At the age of 12, there were no significant events in the director's life, he could only dream of adventures and a possible escape from home.
Moonrise Kingdom is in every sense a unique precedent in the author's career – undoubtedly beloved by the audience and frankly autobiographical.
What Is Moonrise Kingdom About?
The movie tells the story of a small town shocked by the disappearance of a couple of teenage lovers. In the 1960s, after a boy and a girl leave a boy scout camp, the sheriff turns the whole town upside down.
The scoutmaster begins his investigation. The girl's mother is hysterical, and her father seems to know something special. After all, everyone has had a first love.
Moonrise Kingdom Is One of the Best Movies About Childhood Ever Made
The movie grows on the soil of melancholy and sadness, desperate longing for childhood. If you watch this movie at the age of 10-14, you can safely build your identity on the example of charming Sam and Suzy – equally modest and daring, beautiful and smart.
But after twenty years, Anderson's movie opens eyes full of nostalgia, tears and tenderness. The director's fascinating fantasy of a once unrealized adventure is easily shared by adult neurotics.
By those who, for fear of upsetting their parents, missed out on adventures and vivid memories with friends, wasting time intended for adventure on studying and obedience that did not pay off.
Like All Anderson Films, Moonrise Kingdom Has an Impeccable Visual Style
Wes Anderson captures the rebellious spirit of adolescence and the storm of emotions in a symmetrical and static form.
Perfectly calibrated plans, carefully thought-out spaces and a combination of warm colors balance the complex characters of two outsiders and their uncomfortable position in the world.
At the same time, they reflect the dreamy perspective of teenagers, transforming the dreary island life into a stage for a magical and colorful performance.
Moonrise Kingdom Will Make You Feel That Childish Excitement Once Again
Wes Anderson takes teenage rebellion seriously and helps two misfits survive an unforgettable summer and a difficult transition period with fun, adventure and hugs.
Although the movie ends where it began, life on the island is renewed after emotional and real storms. The love story of Sam and Suzy ends with a sweet wedding ceremony, a rite of passage that gives the characters a new social status.
They are no longer outcasts, but honorable adventurers who have awakened the island from its slumber. But unfortunately, we are already different – the same adults, tired and unable to go anywhere at full speed.
Moonrise Kingdom with its coziness, warmth, tenderness imperceptibly changes us, the viewers, reminding us of the forgotten ability to revive memories and build fantastic worlds out of illusions, even if not as wonderful and ideal as Wes Anderson's.