Moonrise Kingdom [DVD] [2012]

I had been waiting and waiting with anticipation for this to come out on DVD after seeing it at the cinema three times. I can honestly say, hands down, it is Wes Anderson's best film to date. The cinematography is an absolute visual feast that leaves me arranging things in nice straight lines for hours after watching the film, plus these are most talented and loveable child actors I've ever seen (in fact the adult cast is also equally as exciting) and the story has me laughing and crying throughout every time. I just cannot express enough love for this film... and you can see the love that went into making it. It's just artistically awe inspiring and gets the perfect balance of blockbuster and art house influence... makes me want to be a child again. JUST WATCH IT IT'S AMAZING PLEASE!!!!!

A great film from the quirky Wes Anderson with great performances from All the cast. Sam and Suzy steal the show but there are wonderful roles for Bruce Willis, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton. The music is diverse and also excellent. You can get the soundtrack too if you like it!

Once again Wes Anderson delights with a film that is visually striking, quirky, on the surface a whole lot of fun but with a dark undertone.

It tells the story of two children, one a troubled orphan and the other the daughter of a very odd couple indeed, who run away together on a small island just days before a hurricane hits. It's typical Wes Anderson though. The characters all verge on the surreal, with lots of quirks and tics between them. As so often the case with Anderson the characters all have difficulties relating to other people, and the film is as much about their attempts to be a part of or apart from society as anything else. But for all their oddness, their almost caricatured personalities, there is something utterly believable about each character. There is something I recognised either in myself or in people I know in each depiction.

The two adventure across the island, pursued by the girl's parents (Anderson regular Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), the Police in the form of Bruce Willis (in one of his best ever screen performances) and a scout troupe led by Edward Norton (in a role that demands and gets a degree of subtlety in order to portray a troubled man finding himself) and Tilda Swinton as a very creepy Social Services. Despite the big name cast, the show is stolen by the two child leads, Kara Haywood and Jared Gilman who dominate the picture with a great deal of charm.

Another stand out feature, for me anyway, was the soundtrack. The music is well chosen, good use is made of several Benjamin Britten pieces which are worked into the plot, and there is some Hank Williams thrown in with a particularly apt song for the film, Kaw-Liga, along with a few other well chosen tracks. Anyone who manages to include Britten and Williams in the same soundtrack and make it all fit together is a bit of a genius.

It's a film that tells a great story, and shows some interesting characters as they develop into more rounded people. It's quirky, funny and at times moving. I have to say that despite it being based around two children I think its Wes Anderson's most mature and accomplished film.