Possibly Anderson's best film in terms of style.
8/10
Author: hipstercritic from Dallas, Texas, United States
4 June 2012

The year is 1965 and a remote North Eastern coastal community is plunged into confusion when it discovers that two kids have run away. Sam, a discontented Khaki Scout, and Suzy, a put-upon older sister and forgotten daughter, abscond into the forest to escape their dissatisfying existences. The responsible adults – Sam's Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) and Suzy's parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) – and the entire town set out on a frenzied search, which gets wild when the largest storm in recorded history touches down and puts everyone's life into question.

What ensues is a battle between youth and age, hope and disillusionment, faith and cynicism. In terms of story and character, Wes Anderson's previous films, especially The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited, are superior.(PAS d'accord) Even in the most compelling relationship in the film between Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) and Sam doesn't embody Anderson's ability to take his characters into deep emotional places of hurt and healing without melodrama.

However, the newest addition to the Anderson canon is a cinematic experience. Moonrise Kingdom's story, co-written with Roman Coppola, takes a definite backseat to style, as Anderson saturates the entire film with a "Norman Rockwell-type of Americana". Stylistically, it may be Anderson's most masterful work, as the costumes, sets, and settings transport the viewer to an alternate universe, a place of wonder and adventure.

The soundtrack is especially effective, as it recalls a time when things were simpler: Hank Williams was on the radio, and children listened to records instead of playing video games. However, Anderson isn't content with reminiscing about the year 1965. He takes this nostalgia and twists it, infusing the film with a twinge of sadness through the reality of life's disappointments.

He doesn't reject the Rockwellian view of America, but argues that it doesn't tell the whole story. Moonrise Kingdom is that place of beauty and passion that we all have been in at least once in our lives – the one place on earth where we believe that anything is possible. It has since been lost, but it persists in our memories in moments of nostalgia.

Might be my favourite Wes Anderson film
9/10
Author: davidgkimberley from London
27 May 2012

The thing that I enjoy most about Wes Anderson films is that they each feel like a great adventure and in this sense I think Moonrise Kingdom is his best yet. It tells that tale of Sam, an orphan on scout camp, and Suzy, a misunderstood girl, as they run away together. At first I found the two actors playing the kids to be kind of limp but after a few minutes I warmed to them and I actually think they were both pretty good overall, particularly Jared Gilman who plays Sam and even more so knowing that it's the first acting he's ever done.

The rest of the cast are all pursuing or helping them in some way and there a couple of sub-plots with the island's policeman (played by Bruce Willis) and the parents of Suzy (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand). I thought that the rest of the cast was great. In fairness I am a bit biased because I love Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand but even so I have to say that they were all really good, especially Edward Norton who plays the scout master, and Bill Murray.

There are also a couple of minor roles for Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keital and Tilda Swinton who were also a lot of fun. Everyone in the cast fits into their role really well which is obviously exactly what you want, but not only is that the case for the main roles but also for the less important ones, like the scout troupe (especially Sam's 'enemy'), Suzy's three brothers or the oddball narrator.

Cinematography wise I didn't think this movie was particularly spectacular, especially in comparison to other Wes Anderson movies like 'The Life Aquatic' or 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. There were a couple of shots that were cool though, some really long zoom outs (which sounds clichéd but it worked) and the doll house type ones that I love and think are awesome.

I wouldn't expect to wet your pants laughing at any moment in 'Moonrise Kingdom' but it is funny. There are a couple of laugh out loud moments and as a whole the jokes are pretty sharp and intelligently done. The reason I like the humour in this movie is that it's a part of the ambiance and feel of it, it won't make you crack up but it will make you have a smile on your face for pretty much the whole thing and leave you feeling strangely happy.

That kind of ambiance is really why the movie is so good, and is possibly Wes Anderson's best movie. The whole story is this fantastic blend of reality and child- like dreaming and it's wonderful. At times I felt kind of nostalgic and sad that I'm not a kid anymore. On the other hand it feels like a tribute to those myths and dreams of being a child and it works so well. This is the kind of film that I feel I could watch over and over again, each time spotting something new but also feeling good and enjoying the overall purpose.

Definitely go and see it!

Highly recommended
10/10
Author: rio197 from Paris, France
28 May 2012

If you've been following Mr. Anderson's relatively short career, you'll find more of the same here: a film that is full of quirkiness, which I find to be parables of the troubles we encounter in life. I came to this film without any expectations, having read nothing about it in the news so I was pleasantly surprised that the main protagonists are a couple of tweens.

Any fears of mine finding a sappy or saccharine story were vanquished and replaced with wonderment following the journey of the two main characters.Both actors didn't seem to have formal training but this didn't stop them from serving the story well. It is down to the genius of Mr. Anderson capturing their human performances which are nothing less than beautiful. I can't recommend this film highly enough!

Trivia
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-In the film, Laura Bishop shouts at various family members through a bullhorn. The idea came from co-writer Roman Coppola's childhood, as his mother Eleanor  Coppola used a bullhorn in a similar fashion.
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-During filming, Bill Murray taught Jared Gilman how to tie a necktie for the first time.
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-When Suzy is reading "Disappearance of the Sixth Grade" at the Mile 3.25 Tidal Inlet campground and continues onto "Part Two" after Sam says to read on, it is  just about the exact midway point of the film: the spoken words occur at 46:59, with 46:56 left in the movie. This moment also marks the transition of the film's plot,  of course, so Suzy's "reading" also informs the audience of the shift in the movie's tone and direction.
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-According to Jared Gilman, the scene that required the most takes was the one where he held up the beetle earrings to Suzy. Each time he did it, either the earrings weren't entirely in the frame, or he wasn't holding them correctly.
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-After filming was completed, Kara Hayward got to keep the kitten owned in the film by her character Suzy, and Jared Gilman got to keep the backpack used by his character Sam.
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-During filming, Wes Anderson rented an old mansion in Newport, Rhode Island for himself, editor Andrew Weisblum, and director of cinematography Robert D.  Yeoman, in which they had a room set up for editing the film. It had been arranged for the cast to stay in a nearby hotel, but eventually some of the actors also decided to stay at the mansion, including Edward Norton, Bill Murray, and Jason Schwartzman. Murray later joked that the theory was to have everyone close by  so that they could all work "ungodly art-movie hours."
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-This is the first Wes Anderson film without any involvement of Owen Wilson.(et c'est une bonne chose !!il m'a gâché tous les films) 
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-According to Wes Anderson, Suzy's discovery of the "Coping with a Troubled Child" pamphlet was based on a similar experience from his own childhood: "It wasn't anything terrible. It's just something that at the time, when I found it, I was like, 'What is this!' I immediately knew who that troubled child was even though hypothetically it could have been someone else."
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-Wes Anderson's sixth collaboration with Bill Murray.
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-The film opened in only four theaters, two in New York and two in Los Angeles, but earned $167,250 per screen, the all-time record for highest per-theater box  office average of a non-animated film.
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-When Sam is surrounded by the scouts in Lightning Field, he says, "On this spot, I will fight no more, forever!", which is from the Surrender Speech by Chief  Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. In 1877, Chief Joseph attempted to lead his people on an 1100-mile journey to Canada to escape the U.S. Army. They made it  within 40 miles before they were surrounded, and Chief Joseph made his speech.
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-While Suzy's books in the movie are fake, "Noye's Fludde", is in fact a real 1957 opera by Benjamin Britten. The text is based on an edition by Alfred W. Pollard of an early 15th-century mystery play from the Chester Mystery Cycle. The opera is written to be performed by a cast primarily of amateurs, and Britten requested it be performed in a church or a large hall but not in a theatre. Hence why it is being done by children in a church.
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-Before filming, neither Kara Hayward nor Jared Gilman had ever seen a typewriter in person. Hayward later said, "Fran (Frances McDormand) had a lot of fun  with that. She couldn't believe it. She showed me that the keys are in the same place as now (on computers)."
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-Though it was filmed in part on Prudence Island, Rhode Island, the map of the island of New Penzance is based on Fisher's Island, New York.
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-At Camp Ivanhoe, there is a sign visible that says Fort Lebanon. Wes Anderson's girlfriend Juman Malouf is originally from Lebanon.
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-Opening film at the 65th Cannes Film Festival in 2012.
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-The fish hook earrings Sam gives to Suzy are made of iridescent greenish-blue beetles called Fiery Searchers. They are common all over North America, and are found in moist forest floor areas.
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-Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons were considered and offered the role of Social Services.
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-Most of Wes Anderson's classmates who were Scouts were in Troop 55.
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-During the closing credits, the voice of a young person introduces various instruments as they join in playing a song-an obvious reference to the records played in the Hayward home.This method of spoken introduction has however also been used outside of education recordings, such as in the obscure 1967 song "Intro and Outro" by the Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band where atypical and strange instruments are introduced as played by unusual and unlikely musicians (such as John Wayne and Adolf Hitler), and in Mike Oldfield's seminal 1973 work "Tubular Bells" where Part One is concluded by Vivian Stanshall as "Master of Ceremonies" crediting one by one the instruments used earlier in the piece. Co-incidentally, tubular bells are listed as part of the deconstruction of the Desplat piece.
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-An abandoned Linens 'n Things retail store outside of Newport, Rhode Island was used as a sound stage for the film.
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This is the first Wes Anderson film to be shot in the 1.85:1 ratio since Tête brûlée (1996), and also the first to be shot on 16mm film.
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Director Trademark
Wes Anderson:  [dead or endangered dogs]  "Snoopy" dies in the battle in the woods, just as "Buckley" dies after being run over by Eli Cash in La famille Tenenbaum (2001), and the three-legged dog in La vie aquatique (2004) is abandoned by its pirate owners and mistreated by Hennessey.
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-Wes Anderson:  ["Peanuts"]  The dog is named "Snoopy"; Rushmore (1998) and La famille Tenenbaum (2001) also contain numerous "Peanuts" and Charlie Brown references.
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Wes Anderson:  [divorce]  Suzy's parents are on the verge of divorce; the parents in À bord du Darjeeling Limited (2007) and La famille Tenenbaum (2001) are also divorced.(moui...des millions de couples sont divorcés...euh...?)