Moonrise Kingdom Review

I watched Moonrise Kingdom on September 22, 2012. I had been interested in seeing this for some time and finally got around to seeing it. I thought this was an incredible movie. Wes Anderson did a great job with this movie. It had a great mix of being hilarious and insane at the same time with a great story of young love and the wanting of more in life. Each story of the characters is linked to the other in some way and it provides for some great storytelling. There is a great cast including: Bruce Willis as Island Police Captain Sharp, Edward Norton as Scout Master Randall Ward, Bill Murray as Mr. Bishop, Frances McDormand as Mrs. Bishop, and some small cameos that still added a great deal to the plot in Tilda Swinton as Social Services, Jason Schwartzmann as Cousin Ben, and Harvey Keitel as Commander Pierce. Each of these characters has secrets and are isolated in their own little worlds in the year 1965, however, as I said they are all connected to one another in some way. It makes the movie even more fun to watch. Though this stellar cast of amazing actors does a great job, the standouts in this lies with the young love storyline of Suzy Bishop and Sam who is an orphan because both of his parents are deceased. They met a year ago and eventually agree to run away together a year later. Their first meeting scene was so well done and really tied in nicely with the finale. I like when movies tend to return to a crucial scene. It makes it special. I was extremely impressed with Kara Heyward, who played Suzy. Her performance was excellent showing a troubled teenager with a dark side, longing for something more than normal. She has a home life that shows the family is well to do with both of her parents being lawyers and three bratty brothers, but she longs for adventure. She is a loner and likes to do her own thing. The same can be said for Sam, who is tired of the same old routine in the Khaki Scouts. Jared Gilman also did a fantastic job in his role. These young actors clicked very well. Suzy and Sam protect each other from other scouts. Their bond is really strong. The adult characters care for the two young characters as it is evident from the search party. Society turns upside down, which actually is needed. A major storm is used to show this. Secrets come out regarding Captain Sharp and Mrs. Bishop and Scout Master Ward. I loved following the adventures of Suzy and Sam. Suzy always has a fantasy book and as we follow Suzy and Sam, they seem to be writing their own fantasy book. This movie combines fantastic performances (particularly by Heywood and Gilman), good dialogue, good musical scores, great camera work and an all around impressive movie. I am giving this a 5/5 because I found it to be that good. I am very glad I finally got a chance to see this.