Movie Review: "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012)

Rating: A (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content
and smoking.

   By the fact I've never heard of this movie before (and let me tell you, I know what's out in theaters!), I thought it wouldn't be that good. But after spectacular reviews, I decided to go. I had no idea what it was about, and I'll be honest and say I was a little disturbed at first: Moonrise Kingdom is a story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love and run away together. They're not even old enough to see their own movie and they think they're in "love"! Oh well, I said, looking past the disturbance. It must be good.

  

   And it was. The significance of the title didn't come until the end, and I was surprised it was a comedy. It even included two new actors to the mix -- Jared Gilman as Sam and Kara Hayward as Suzy.

   Sam is a Khaki Boy Scout on a remote island off the coast of New England. His fellow scout friends isolate him because of his uniqueness, saying he's "emotionally disturbed" because his parents died when he was young. Suzy comes from a problematic family and is easily turned violent from taunts and threats. When these two meet, sparks ignite. Their independent natures and lifelong solitude is what brings them together -- and one year after writing each other letter after letter, they finally decide to run away.

   But that's not okay for Sam's troop. They set out to find him, but then Suzy's parents notice she's missing. Overall, this comedy brings a laughable script with incomparable cinematography. However, it's recommended that you be over thirteen years of age to get some of the jokes. Not a must-see, but definitely a good movie!

My Recommendation: *** 3/5 Stars for Moonrise Kingdom (2012) starring Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman. IMDb rating: 8.3/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748122/

Watch the Trailer!