Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) ***1/2

Smart, visually beautiful, sensitive and very funny, “Moonrise Kingdom” is a wonderful new coming of age picture by the brilliant director Wes Anderson, who once again demonstrates—after the genius of movies like “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Rushmore”—that he is one of the finest filmmakers working today and certainly the best since Woody Allen when it comes to directing comedies about relationships between quirky, morose, intelligent characters.

Somewhere in New Penzance, the scenic island hamlet of “Moonrise Kingdom,” two twelve-year-olds—Sam (Jared Gilman), an orphan boy and unpopular member of a local scouting troop; and Suzy (Kara Heyward), an outcast girl from a family of three younger brothers and a mom (Francis McDormand) and dad (Bill Murray) who don’t understand her—meet briefly backstage at a play, become devoted pen pals, devise a plan to run away together, and fall in love for the first time.

The year is 1965, but the time doesn’t seem to have any special significance other than the fact that it allows Anderson the latitude to use quaint details in place of modern gadgets—characters communicate by writing letters instead of calling on cell phones and navigate using a compass rather than a GPS device—as a way of evoking a gentler, more innocent time. It’s also a moment that lends more range for thinking and creativity. When they are not talking or dancing while listening to records on the beach, Suzy reads from her suitcase full of books while Sam paints pictures.

Kids are always more clever in Anderson’s films; meanwhile, adults seem to have a bumbling way about them, as though still kids who still haven’t quite grown up. (Indeed, all the older siblings in “The Royal Tenenbaums” seek sanctuary in their childhood home when the real world becomes too scary.) So we wind up with clumsy authority figures like Murray (in another pitch perfect, hilariously deadpan performance) and McDormand (likewise) searching for their daughter while Sam is sought by a comically fastidious Scout Leader (Edward Norton, in one of his best performances) and the island’s lonely police chief (Bruce Willis, in a sympathetic, nicely understated turn), who has been maintaining a not-so-secret relationship with McDormand.

The young lovers are caught but get away again. Sam’s scout troop, having undergone a surprising redemptive transformation, engineers a daring midnight rescue allowing Sam and Suzy to escape on another adventure. This one takes them to a second camp, where Cousin Ben (the terrific Jason Schwartzman), an affably grandiose scout with limited command, agrees to marry the pair in exchange for a bagful of nickels. Even the venerable Harvey Keitel makes an appearance as a peculiarly dignified but somewhat scatterbrained master scout.

All of this is captured with Anderson’s signature visual style featuring fluid camera movements and long, flowing takes. “Moonrise Kingdom” was shot in and around Newport, Rhode Island and the photography is exquisite, perfectly conveying the mood of warmth and discovery that pervades the film. Anderson’s wide-angle compositions are the kind of deep, meticulously framed and richly detailed requiring multiple viewings. Fortunately, that is a consistently rewarding pleasure.