Moonrise Kingdom

Expectations are a funny thing. 

I had put off seeing Moonrise Kingdom for a while, knowing that Wes Anderson was the director.  I'd seen two Wes Anderson films, so granted, the sample size wasn't all that big to provoke such a reaction.  The Royal Tenenbaums was a royal bore to me, and with such a great cast, I was really disappointed.  I enjoyed Rushmore, but its lead character Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) became so annoying by the end of the film that I had a sour taste in my mouth about the whole film.

Even as the previews were showing, I still had some apprehension- would I love Moonrise Kingdom, as so many people had, or would I want to bang my head against the soft recliner's seat back?

To give a brief synopsis, 12 year old Sam Shukusky has run away from the Khaki Scouts and Suzy Bishop (around the same age) has run away from home- they were pen pals and have run away to have an adventure.   Each of them has had some misbehavior in the past, some of it rather violent.  Edward Norton plays the scoutmaster, Bruce Willis a police captain, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand are Suzy's parents.

So, tremendous cast.  Been there before.  Question still remains- would I enjoy the film?

The answer is a loud, enthusiastic yes, and the characters are a big reason why.
 The characters are very real, very fleshed out.  Kara Heyward and Jared Gilmanre incredible as Suzy and Sam.  Both are kids with issues- Suzy has temper problems, and Sam is an orphan with a track record of misbehavior, but together they have such a bond.  Edward Norton plays the Scout Master as someone extremely enthusiastic to do the job, but not over the top.

And that's just it- none of the characters are over the top or cartoonish.  They're written and played just right, and because of that, the film really drew me in from the start and never let go.