Resolutions 2016: Moonrise Kingdom

Another Friday is here and thank goodness! I don’t know about you guys, but I have definitely been living for the weekend lately. However, before we all go off to our weekend festivities and/or binge watch sessions, I thought I’d put up another post for my Resolutions series. This is not a film resolution I’ve had for super long given that it only came out a few years ago, but I remember wanting to see it back when the trailers were on TV. But I missed seeing it in theaters and kind of forgot about it for a while. What really sparked my interest again was when I watched and fell in love with director Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. It reminded me that while Anderson can be a little weird, he can also tell a really fun, heartwarming story. Which is why I turned my attention to Moonrise Kingdom. Does it live up to my hopes and expectations? Read on, dear readers, to find out.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Synopsis: “A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out to find them.” –www.imdb.com

What I liked:

• The cast. With Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, and more, it’s pretty stacked. And, of course, they’re all great in their respective roles. However, the real standouts for me are the young leads played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. These two are really cute together. They’re both so serious that in some ways, they’re like little adults, yet they’re also very sweet and a little awkward. Basically, they’re easy to like. And it’s easy to cheer for…
• Their cute little love story. Is it just me or has young love kind of been a thing for Anderson films lately? No qualms from me though—I think he spins a tale of young love quite adorably. The lengths these two go for each other are admirable and sincere while still being downright precious. I’m generally not a sappy person, but I enjoyed it.
• The humor. Hmm. How do you describe Anderson humor? It’s definitely not stupid humor, but it is sometimes silly. It’s a sweet kind of humor that somehow feels both new and old-fashioned at the same time. If you’ve seen an Anderson film, I’m pretty sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.
• The charming quirkiness. I saw a snippet of a review on Rotten Tomatoes that described the film’s style as “heaven’s-to-Etsy aesthetic,” which I think is both a delightful and perfect way to put it. Anderson’s films tend to have a very homemade, dollhouse vibe about them, and it makes them stand out in a crowd. Personally, I think it makes them very fun and interesting to watch. No exception with Moonrise.
• It’s much more accessible than some of Anderson’s other films. I don’t think I’d call any of his work “mainstream” exactly, but this one is so charming that I think more people would be likely to enjoy it than not.

What I didn’t like:

• Something bad happens to an animal. It made me sad. That’s all I’m sayin’.
• Though I say it’s accessible, it’s still not gonna be everyone’s favorite movie. Anderson has a very particular aesthetic that I know some people find pretentious if not downright stupid. I’ll admit that I’ve felt that way about some of his previous films. While this film struck me as more watchable/relatable than some of his other works, there’s still a chance that if you don’t like Anderson, you still won’t like Anderson by the end of this.
• It’s not as good as The Grand Budapest Hotel. At least in my opinion. But that’s kind of the golden standard by which I judge all Anderson films, so you can take that with a grain of salt. Even so, Moonrise is pretty darn good.

A Worthy Resolutions? Oh for sure. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Between this and The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson has really grown on me lately. It’s making me want to go back and watch and/or rewatch all of his films from beginning to end. Hmm. That might actually be a future project. I’ll make a note of that. Haha.

My Grade: A-

That’s all for me! For this week, anyway. But you can bet I’ll be back next week with one more resolution to close things out. And then I’ll continue on with whatever nonsense I feel like. Haha. Until then, have a superb weekend! 🙂