Robert Frost wrote “Two Roads Diverged in a narrow wood/ and I took the one less traveled by,” which pretty much describes the routes that Suzy (Kara Hayward) and Sam (Jared Gilman) take to get to their positions in Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson himself lives off the road less traveled by, and his road is probably inhabited with whimsical fairytale creatures and whatever his clever mind develops. With lots of complexity but less than satisfactory payoff, Moonrise Kingdom delivers something that any Wes Anderson fan will love, and most casual fans will as well. However, it does not hit highs like the Royal Tennenbaums or (a better comparison) Fantastic Mr. Fox was able to reach because of a less tight script.
Suzy and Sam are not like most of their friends: they both have little quirks and dissmiliar backgrounds that creates an instant attraction between the two of them. Suzy’s parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) don’t quite know how to help her get through her troubles, and Sam is in a scout troop (led by troop leader Edward Norton) in which he is the least liked person because he is an orphan. Using letter correspondence (the movie is set in the 60s), they decide to leave their summer locations to be with each other. After both are deemed missing, the scout troop and parents search for their kids with help of the island’s police officer (Bruce Willis).
Yes, the story is set on an island in New England with one police officer. The island is all beaten path, because there are no roads whatsoever and as far as I can tell, one golf cart type automobile. Working as a metaphor for being contained, it is a very effective way to stage the runaway kids, since they really can’t get too far and are never in too serious of danger, plus they change the rules by meeting with people on other islands. Most importantly, the island has some extremely beautiful shots that give the story a wonderful aesthetic.
Not all of the subplots are executed well. The social services character (Tilda Swinton, her actual name in the movie) is underused, and Edward Norton’s travails needed more screen time. This is one movie where the running time might have been too short (about 90 minutes). Also the situations the characters get into as the story goes on get more and more bizarre, which detracts from the simplistic story that was set up for the first hour.
However, Wes Anderson’s strength is always creating complex, humanized characters, and in that regard he succeeds and then some. Sam and Suzy’s romance is the core of the story, and it is handled very well; it is easy to see how these characters could be in love with one another at such a young age. There is wonderful depth to Suzy’s parents and Bruce Willis’s cop character that make them more than archetypes, and the scouts themselves have some nice little revelations in limited screen time.
Moonrise Kingdom is a sweet Wes Anderson movie. It softens his whimsical edges to give us something mostly sweet and simple at its center, despite all the complications preventing love from occurring. As much as Wes Anderson lives off the beaten paths of his island, this little love story is something that could happen to anyone in anytime. I wish I used my boy scout experiences for something as beautiful as Sam did for Suzy.