Simon Dillon reviews this quirky and offbeat film

Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson is a director whose output doesn't always appeal to me. For instance, I liked Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, but his take on Fantastic Mr Fox was fatally lacking in the spirit of Dahl, and left me cold. With Moonrise Kingdom however, he has made his best film to date - a quirky, funny, touching tale of childhood innocence and adult disillusionment that recalls Whistle Down the Wind, or more recently Son of Rambow.

The plot has something of a fairytale edge. It concerns twelve year old orphan Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) who decide to run away together on an island off the coast of New England in 1965. When their flight is discovered, Suzy's parents Walt and Laura (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), lovelorn policeman Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) and the obligatory wicked witch (Tilda Swinton - who is simply referred to as "Social Services"), attempt to track them down.

The film explores two distinct themes; on the one hand the thrill of childhood adventures and the beautiful, innocent simplicity of adolescent love. On the other it explores the disappointments and frustrations of the adults - from Ward's desperation to be respected amongst his peers, to Sharp's miserable affair with Laura and Walt's anger and self-loathing.

Performances are uniformly excellent, not just from the big names (with Willis proving yet again that he is a far better actor than generally given credit for), but especially the children. The sense of period and place is exceptionally well-judged, with fine use of locations, and Bob Balaban's eccentric narration is spot on. Certain sequences really bring home how much things have changed for the better, and for the worse. For instance, in these mollycoddling times its fun to see the boy scouts sent to look for the runaways involved in a variety of health and safety nightmares - from building extremely high tree-houses to wielding all manner of deadly weapons. On the other hand what will happen to Sam if Social Services gets her hands on him (including electric shock treatment) are thankfully horrors now consigned to history.

To be fair, Moonrise Kingdom isn't going to appeal to everyone, but those with a taste for the quirky and offbeat will find it resonant, heartfelt and quietly moving. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.