Thoughts on Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

I almost forgot that I had seen Moonrise Kingdom (written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola) last weekend, Wes Anderson's latest quirk of a film.  My boss saw it and came in the next day, very adamant that I must see it because, he said, and I quote: 'I left the movie and thought, this is a script Melissa would write.'

It's true, my boss has seen me come in with some very strange proposals throughout the years working at the 'toy factory.'   Perhaps the most eye-brow raising character, an ocean wave monster (but, really, not such a monster, just having fun wiggling through the ocean, just misunderstood, as any wave would be.)  And, so, now apparently I have a reputation for a Wes Anderson brand of weird.

I love the premise of the film. Two young misfits, one a restless orphan and Khaki scout stuck at summer camp, the other a misunderstood girl who sees the world through binoculars and fantasy books, run away together just before the biggest storm in history.   

It's classic Wes Anderson, the entire film choreographed with a perfect staccato rhythm, characters who speak only what's on their mind with expressionless faces, each shot strategically and geometrically framed.  After a while I got a little tired of the rhythm of speech and the story went to such a ridiculous place, I, personally, couldn't stay with it.  But, I guess when you take a film to such an extreme weird, this is what you allow for: total suspension of disbelief.  It was fun, in a way, but I just found it a little tiresome.

To be honest, I love the trailer (below) SO MUCH that I want to suggest you just watch the trailer instead of spending money on the movie. But I also think the first twenty minutes and the two main characters are wonderful and might inspire some middle grade writers out there (or really any writer writing characters) so I can't say it's not worth a little escape to the theater.

Has anyone seen Moonrise Kingdom?