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MOONRISE KINGDOM

"Quirky Characters Learning Love"

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Wes Anderson’s MOONRISE KINGDOM is about two troubled preteen children, who fall in love and run away. Sam is an orphan who meets Suzy, a depressed young girl. They decide to leave their normal lives behind and go hiking. When Sam and Suzy go missing, the Camp Director leads his campers to go find them. The campers catch them, but they get away again when Suzy acts out in rage and wounds the camper who’s been Sam’s nemesis. Suzy and Sam find the idyllic place they wanted. They share a first kiss. Not far behind, however, is Suzy’s family, the police officer, the campers, and the scout master warden.

The character development drives MOONRISE KINGDOM. It leads to an entertaining and well-done movie. As in other Wes Anderson movies, MOONRISE KINGDOM shows troubled people, makes them appealing, and laughs at their situations. MOONRISE KINDGOM has a mixed worldview. It includes church scenes, but has an overall ironic feel to it. Each broken character is depressed or dealing with something negative and trying to piece together their life. In the end, however, many of the characters make the right decision.

Content:

(Pa, RoRo, CC, BB, L, VV, S, NN, AA, D, MM) Mixed pagan worldview with Romantic elements and Christian, redemptive, and moral elements, including a wedding in a church with a cross, a Bible, a pastor, sacrifice, a subtle prayer, a church is the shelter for the town during a storm, and children appear in church play about Noah’s Ark; three obscenities and three strong profanities; strong violence includes girl hurts herself by punching a mirror with wounds shown and mentioned but action not shown, boy hits other boys, young boy threatens with knife and sword, girl stabs boy in the back, boy pierces girl’s ear, man throws things at another man, boy is struck by lighting; young boy and girl kiss and touch each other, adulterous affair mentioned but stopped, crude commentary; upper male nudity, boy paints a picture of a nude girl, girl in underwear; drinking and drunkenness; smoking and no drug use; and, stealing, lying, dysfunctional family dynamics, main character is an orphan and the police officer sacrifices for him, young girl deals with depression and acts out in rage.

More Detail:

Reviewed at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France.

A first love of two young preteens is portrayed in Wes Anderson’s MOONRISE KINDGOM. As is typical for Wes Anderson, the movie features high irony and dysfunctional characters, but somehow it all comes together to make a comical, very observant film.

Sam is an emotionally disturbed preteen who lives in a wilderness camp, until one day he goes missing. For a long time, Sam has been pen pals with Suzy after meeting her in the back of a church during a church production of Noah’s Ark. As the letters continued to pass between them, Suzy shared that she’s depressed and doesn’t enjoy her family, while Sam shared the fact that he’s an orphan. The two grew closer together. They decide to leave their normal lives behind and take an adventure together to go hiking.

When Sam and Suzy go missing, the Camp Director leads his campers to find them, even though Sam wasn’t popular with the other children because of his emotionally instability. As the search is underway, the campers end up finding Sam and Suzy and demand to take them back to civilization, but Suzy acts out in rage and stabs the camper who’s been Sam’s nemesis. This is a clear display of Suzy’s uncontrollable rage that occurs and the reason her parents have difficulty dealing with her.

Able to get away from the campers, Suzy and Sam continue their hike. They eventually land in the spot where they dreamed to be. Sam sets up camp, and the two declare their love of each other. They share things they never shared with anyone else, and experience a first kiss. Not far behind, however, is Suzy’s family, the police officer, the campers, and the scout master warden, who tells them they can’t be together due to their troubled character.

As is the way in Anderson’s films, MOONRISE KINGDOM shows troubled people, makes them appealing, and laughs at the situation. The movie is done in the Anderson tone – faded colors to portray a nostalgic time and quirky in the look and feel of the set. The character development drives MOONRISE KINGDOM and ultimately leads to an entertaining film.

MOONRISE KINDGOM has a mixed worldview. It includes church scenes, but has an overall ironic feel to it with broken people. Each main character is depressed or dealing with something negative and trying to piece together their life in some way. In the end, however, many of the characters decide to make the right decision. The spiritual tone and connotations of composer Leonard Cohen’s famous sarcastic song “Hallelujah” play at a major climactic moment in the movie.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.