An ode to what it’s like to be 12 years old an in love, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom isn’t the writer-director’s smoothest feature, but it feels like his purest.
It’s difficult not to label Anderson’s filmography as “twee” — sure, the term fits, but it also overlooks the emotional depths he plumbs via his parades of eccentric square pegs. Moonrise doesn’t delve as deep as his best works (The Royal Tenenbaums, The Fantastic Mr. Fox) but it is no less affecting.