Movie Spoiler Summary: MOONRISE KINGDOM (after capsule review)

While I thought Rushmoreback in 1998 showed promise, I often found Anderson’s characters throughout his career to be overly precious, forced, and different for "different's sake."  His visual aesthetics were designed within an inch of their lives and the emotional core always felt hallow.  If you’ve had a problem acclimatizing yourself to Wes Anderson’s quirky sensibilities as a storyteller like I did, Moonrise Kingdom may be the film for you.  Young orphan Sam has nothing to lose and decides to stake everything he has in life on his love for Suzy, sending everyone around them into a minor tailspin that culminates on the day the Black Beacon Storm hits their small Rhode Island community.  Anderson throws in a few morbid touches that nicely accentuate the innocence of the story.  The director manages to fashion a trail to his ultimately heartwarming intentions that’s very easy to follow and accessible to a mainstream audience.  This film isn’t just for Anderson fans, but everyone. 

Moonrise Kingdom opens in the Bishop household on a rainy day, in the mid-months of 1965.  The structure itself is a nautical style home painted a very distinctive red, which rests on the Rhode Island coast in the fictional neighborhood of Summer’s End.  Little rascal Lionel (Jake Ryan) plays a musicology record narrated by a young boy for him and his brothers Murry (Tanner Flood) and Rudy (Wyatt Ralff).  Older sister Suzy (Kara Hayward) looks out every window of the home through her binoculars waiting for the mail person to delivery a much anticipated letter.  The camera pans through various rooms of the home horizontally, as well as vertically, in a 360-degree style that creates the feel of looking into a dollhouse.  The parents Laura (Frances McDormand) and Walt (Bill Murray) eat, read, or complete chores.  Suzy’s correspondence arrives.  On the Island of Penzance, the film’s narrator (Bob Balaban, who is dressed like the Travelocity elf) is a weather aficionado and amateur guide who also documents his exploits via video.  He discusses the location, as well as the major upcoming Black Beacon Storm that will hit the area in three days. 

Someone pulled a Tim Robbins

Nearby, at Camp Ivanhoe, Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton) of Troop #55 emerges from his tent and greets his son.  He begins his morning rounds judging various projects conducted by his troops, as well as offering his strict criticism of attire and following safety measures.  At breakfast, he realizes that the most unpopular boy under his care, Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman), is gone.  His tent is empty and, in fact, Ward takes down a poster that comically covers a hole in the tent signifying his break ala The Shawshank Redemption.  Randy reports the missing khaki scout to island police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), as well as noting the various supplies on Sam’s person.  The movie shares Sam’s letter of resignation addressed to his pack.  Phone operator Becky patches a call through to Sam’s foster father Mr. Billingsley (Larry Pine), who informs the captain that after the trouble he has had with Sam, he is no longer interested in taking him back and cares little whether he is ever found.  Sharp frantically proclaims, “I’ve got an escaped khaki suit.” 

Noah's Flood

Randy preps the pack for their search and rescue mission.  He shares with the troops that he makes his living as a math teacher, before the kids arm themselves with weapons, and their dog Snoopy joins them.  They comb land and water, while the authorities interview locals, including Laura and Walter.  Suzy watches her mother Laura with her binoculars meet clandestinely with Sharp by the shore.  As Hank Williams “Kaw-Liga” plays over the soundtrack, Sam adorned in a raccoon hat treks down the Chickchaw Trail.  Suzy spots him and they unite in the meadow.

"What kind of bird are YOU?"

Flashback to one year earlier, when Sam and Suzy first meet.  She’s part of a church production of Noah’s Flood and Sam is in the audience.  He finds her sitting in the dressing room with other girls in avian-themed costumes.  “What kind of bird are you?” Sam asks her.  “I’m a raven.”  Later, he boards the bus with a note she left him.

"I'm a raven."

Back to present tense, Sam utilizes his scouting skills to cross the river.  They hike the old Chickchaw Trail, eat, and make their way through the rain from Summer’s End to the Island of Penzance.  He catches a turtle with the name “Albert” ingrained into its shell in red lettering and then fries a fish for Suzy.  She reveals her secret that she stole a bunch of library books.  She also has a copy of Coping with a Troubled Child, prompting Sam to laugh.  He apologizes to her when his reaction hurts her feelings.  She reads The Francine Odysseys.  

A motley crew

At the Bishop home, Laura informs Walt via megaphone that their daughter is now AWOL.  While looking for Suzy, Sharp tries to console Walt.  He asks about Laura and then plays the Hank Williams song.  At the Bishop home, Laura uncovers Sam’s artwork and describes it, “He does water colors, mostly landscapes, but a few nudes.”  She also found correspondence between Sam and their daughter, which are reenacted via voice-over and flashback.  We learn that Suzy has a hilariously and unexpectedly vicious temper.  At the meadow where Sam and Suzy reunited, the search party looks for the kids.  Laura and Sharp talk.  Walt has been incurring black eyes from accidental falls.  Sharp begins ordering everyone to certain tasks. 

Sam and Suzy realize that they’re being followed.  The pack, led by Sam’s main rival Redford (Lucas Hedges), find the two.  Sam warns Redford, “Do not cross this stick.”  He disobeys him, charging towards the couple.  An arrow is shot.  The next things we know the pack flees.  As it turns out, Redford rode his bike into a tree (think the fate of the sports car belonging to Cameron’s dad in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Suzy stabbed him with her left-handed scissors, and one of the pack killed Snoopy with the arrow during the scuffle.  The scouts debrief in the car.

At the dock, the injured Redford is carried away on a gurney.  The Bishops confront Randy, before the narrator surfaces and informs everyone that he thinks he knows where the kids are.  At a discrete cove that becomes very special to Sam and Suzy, they play and swim in the water.  He paints her and fashions some earrings for her out of fishhooks and beetles.  He pierces her virgin ears with one of them.  “It’s pretty, do the other one,” she says enamored, as blood drips down her neck.  Suzy tells him that she thinks orphans are special.  He responds, “I love you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.”  They slow dance (at arm’s length, of course) in their underwear.  They kiss and Sam spits sand out of his mouth.  Then, they French kiss and engage in innocent heavy petting.  French music plays.  She reads Disappearance of Sixth Grader, while Sam mouths his pipe. 

The next morning, they wake up surrounded by everyone.  Walt lifts their tent from over them, Laura grabs Suzy, and Randy informs Sam that he is now homeless.  On the boat ride back, Lionel informs his sister, “You’re a traitor to our family.”  Suzy responds defiantly, “Good, I want to be.”  On a separate boat, Randy comforts Sam.  At the station, Captain Sharp puts in a call for Social Services (the always fabulous Tilda Swinton).  At the Bishop home, the boys play a board game.  Walt grabs an axe to go chop down a tree.  Laura bathes Suzy.  At his home, Sharp cooks Sam a meal.  He shares with the boy, “Even smart kids stick their fingers in electric sockets.”  A clear connection is made between the young lovers who are just beginning their journey, and their older counterparts, whose proverbial ship has sailed. 

Randy conducts his nightly log.  The troops gossip.  With Redford temporarily out of the picture, Skotak (Gabriel Rush) stands up for Sam and rallies the pack around his best interests.  Laura meets with Sharp.  The troops secretly pick Suzy up from her home.  Laura breaks up with Sharp.  The camera lingers on McDormand in one of the film’s bittersweet images, as she nurses her emotions with a sign in the background declaring, “No Swimming.”  As Sam and Suzy enjoyed their very first swim together not too long ago, the chapter was closing on their older counterparts that lost out to time and opportunity.  The pack make their way to Sharp’s, where they pick up Sam.   My favorite image of this entire film, from a purely aesthetic point of view, is of Sam and Suzy bundled together on a canoe at sunrise with the stunning red of the sky behind them, as they make their way through the deep blue waters.  Unbeknownst to him, after the narrator sets up a shot for his video log detailing the approaching storm, the kids arrive on land and into the frame of his footage.  Laura and Walt talk while lying in their separate beds.  Laura: “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”  Walt: “Why?”  Laura: “We’re all they’ve got, Walt.”  Walt: “That’s not enough.” 

Schwartzman taps into his fagalicious side

Suzy reads to the boys.  Lionel discovers Suzy is missing.  Randy wakes up to an AWOL pack.  He telegraphs Commander Pierce (Harvey Keitel) at Fort Lebanon.  While chewing wads of gum provided by a fellow scout, Sam and the pack approach Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman in a fiercely realized part) about performing a marriage ceremony between him and Suzy.   He’s reluctant, but agrees.  Afterwards, he tells the pack, “That’s my fee; I’m keeping the nickels.”  Feeling sorry for the kids, he pushes the tennis ball can forward and lets them keep their money.  “Take the carbon, leave the Bible.”  He places the kids in a sail boat, but Sam has to retrieve Suzy’s binoculars.  Low and behold, they’re on Redford’s person when Sam arrives at the infirmary at Camp Lebanon.  He attacks his arch rival, takes back the equipment, and flees. 

All hail her majesty, bitches

A slew of kids chase after Sam.  He swipes a flag from the ground and plants himself on a nearby pyre declaring, “I condemn you bastards.”  Instantaneously, lightning strikes him.  He survives and his team climb a tree.  Everyone, including Sharp, Randy, the Bishops, Social Services, are on their way to Fort Lebanon.  The torrential rain causes the Black Beacon Reservoir damn to break.  Sam and his pack run past the church he and Suzy first met.  Commander Pierce strips Randy of his command for losing his troops.  The flood sends  a falling totem pole into Pierce’s cabin, starting a fire.  Randy saves him and everyone makes their way to the church where Sam and his friends are incognito.  Sharp and the Bishops are there when Social Services arrives.  There is a standoff between the Captain and the government official.  Sam and Suzy disappear on the roof.  Sharp climbs after them up the steeple.  The young lovers share their last words and kiss.  Sharp offers Sam his home and he accepts.  The steeple crashes and Sharp and the kids hang on for dear life in a memorable image. 

In calmer times, the narrator shares more information about the Black Beacon Storm.  Randy starts camp for the day.  The narrator carries on with more of his business.  Suzy reads The Return of Auntie Lorraine by the bay window as her brothers play a musicology record.  When the kids are called to the dining room, we see Sam leaving his painting and escaping from the window, where Sharp assists him in his getaway at the foot of the house.  The final image is Sam’s depiction of the magical cove he and Suzy spent the night and created a fantasy world for themselves together.  It dissolves into the actual place before the very colorful, creative, and endearing credits begin. 

Box-Office Potential

Considering the record-setting amount on only four screens, Kingdom has a long life ahead of itself, which may last through the "Summer's End."  It should have no problem reaching into the $20 - $40M range.  Wes Anderson’s highest grossing film to date is The Royal Tenenbaums at $52.3M.  It doesn’t seem unheard of for the film to beat that record, but my guess is that it will fall short by at least $10M or so, still making its final take quite an achievement.  Frankly, if this film grosses anything over $25M, it's a hit, IMO.  

Oscar Prospects

Screenplay, screenplay, screenplay!  Anderson was nominated for the category once ten years ago with Owen Wilson for Tenenbaums.  Fantastic Mr. Fox was also nominated for best animated feature two years previously.  I loved the art direction, but perhaps it's too quaint for the AMPAS and not pedigreed enough.  

[Image via Collider]

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