Laymen Reviews
What are you looking for?
  • Home
  • Movies
    • Recent Movie Reviews
  • Contributors
    • Anthony's Contributions
    • Brett's Contributions
    • Darryl's Contributions
    • Elizabeth's Contributions
    • Hunter's Contributions >
      • Hunter's Scale
    • Tyler's Contributions
  • Feedback

Cute, Clever, Comic

Movie: Moonrise Kingdom
Contribution: Hunter
Rating: 9/10
Warning: This movie is one many would consider to be "indie." All of the adjectives used in the title of this review are accurate, but mostly in the "indie" sense. I became a huge fan of Wes Anderson films first with Fantastic Mr. Fox, and I have yet to see his other classics, but I hope to soon. Anderson is typically pretty hit or miss; you either love his stuff or hate it. I'm definitely more on the love side.

Moonrise Kingdom is written extremely well, there's no question about it. I mean, things like that happen when you pair up with Roman Coppola. What makes this movie extra special is the fantastic casting. Seriously, just listen to these three names: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray. These three do so well throughout the movie and really bring the comedy to life. This isn't comedy in the modern, one-liner sense, but rather cleverly constructed dialogues that are really funny, so long as you are paying attention.

Now, I will take a moment to explain the reasons why you may hate the movie. I love the music selected for this film, but it's pretty jumpy and difficult to follow if you are not into the classical music scene. The camera angles are rigid and rely more on still frames and horizontal/vertical movement only, which I think are used effectively, but may not be to your tasting. There was also a questionable scene of romance that I will not go into too much detail about, but it was kind of awkward. I only accept it because it fits really well with the story.

This is a great date movie or a movie you could see with a big group of friends that really dig that "indie" scene. Unlike my brother who will tell you otherwise, I would highly recommend going to see this movie.

Written May 1, 2013
Back
Laymen Reviews... because big words can be scary.