Moonrise Kingdom Review

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it is time for film review. Now back in 2012, Moonrise Kingdom came out and I thought the trailer looked awesome. Unfortunately I missed it in the cinema and it pissed me off because I heard it was really good. So since I had some free time today I decided to watch it and after seeing it until just around an hour ago I have to say I’m annoyed I didn’t see it sooner because the film is awesome.

So the story centers around two socially awkward, but very smart children, Sam Shakusky a boy in scouts and Suzy Bishop, a girl who lives with her family but usually keeps to herself. After their initial meeting, the kids become pen pals and write letters to each other, eventually decide to run away together because of their growing feelings for each other. It doesn’t take long for the adults to realise that the children are missing, so the police, along with the scout master and his cubs and Suzy’s parents go on the hunt to retrieve them.

The story in this film was nothing short of amazing, it was beautiful, kind of crazy, quite sweet, but also very funny. What I got from this film was a tale of young love in the most unconventional way, the whole relationship between Sam and Suzy was different and yet very relatable too. The film feels a bit crazy at times with some of the most random things happening to some people, but for some reason rather than question it, you sort of accept it and it sort of just fits in with the rest of the tone of the film. I think the film succeeds mainly due to the script, it’s very well-written and the dialogue is great. Some of the lines that some of these characters come out with range from humourous to quite touching to being a little unexpected. In the end I have found a film that has made me smile this much in a while.

As for the cast they were amazing, simply loved every one of them. Let’s start with the two leads, Jared Gilman as Sam Shakusky and Kara Hayward as Suzy Bishop, they were amazing. For newcomers they are really good, they both have great presence and have amazing chemistry together. Both of them are pretty similar in terms of character with their very tame and dead pan delivery of their dialogue, but they’re really cute and I can see them growing up to be good actors in the future.

Bruce Willis as Captain Duffy Sharp was also great, this is one of my favourite roles I’ve seen him in for a while, I like him because he’s righteous, authoritative, but also awkward too and not so serious. I think my favourite of the adults would be Edward Norton as Scout Master Randy Ward. He was just adorable, Randy was a scout master who looked like a person in charge but let little things get by him and occasionally lost control of his troop. And it was in those venerable moments which made you feel sorry for the guy, you knew he was kind of useless but due to the situation he couldn’t help what was happening.

Bill Murray was great as Walt Bishop, I think it was Murray playing himself, but whatever it was he was great and his humour whether it was verbal or physical was great. Frances McDormand as Laura Bishop was also good too, she was very secretive person with a lot of nice and dramatic moments. Tilda Swinton as Social Services was incredible, she had such a great and commanding screen presence and I loved her tone and conviction while being so mean to some of the other characters. Jason Schwartzman as Cousin Ben was another good performance, it seems like every new film I see Schwartzman in, I see a new side of his acting abilities that I didn’t know existed. Bob Balaban as Narrator was amazing, I loved it anytime he was on-screen, his timing of dialogue was great and I thought he was really funny in every scene he was in.

When it comes to the presentation it is great. I love the way this film is shot, it constantly feels like you’re always inside the film with the characters, especially when the characters are so close to the camera or when the narrator is talking to you. The soundtrack was amazing, besides the great music selection, the music score by Alexandre Desplat was very good with a pretty upbeat and kid-friendly.

In conclusion Moonrise Kingdom is one of the most delightful films I have seen in recent memory, I really wish I had seen this in 2012 because I’m pretty sure it would have jumped into my top ten films of that year. It is funny, adorable and just a feel-good film. If you couldn’t tell already I really liked this film and I highly recommend it!

Rating: 8.5/10 (Such a good film about young love)

So have you seen Moonrise Kingdom and if so what do you think of it? Be sure to leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next film review yo. 😀