In Defence of Moonrise Kingdom

I’ve realized not many people truly appreciate the value of this Wes Anderson movie. To my horror – some even condemn it.

Just some days back I was having a conversation with a friend who asked me to suggest him a few movies to watch. I asked him if he had seen Moonrise Kingdom and the answer was in negative.

“Well watch that one first, download the movie”, I told him with much enthusiasm.

“What is the IMDB rating?”, he asked me.

I did not know the answer, so I went online and checked the IMDB rating and saw that it was rated 7.8 on the site. My friend thought the rating was pretty good. But the fact that it was not an eight plus sort of disappointed me, not that IMDB ratings matter, hell I have loved movies which are probably a six on that site! But still.

A lot of my friends did not get the movie, thought it was very weird and then I came across a comment on IMDB which pretty much summed up the problem most people have with the movie –

“I’m not a prude by any stretch, but seeing 12 year olds french kissing and fondling each other made me pretty uncomfortable”

Well that scene which seems to make people uncomfortable is probably not longer than a minute. Sixty seconds. You cannot undermine the beauty of an entire movie because of a few seconds that made you squirm. Hell, I was very uncomfortable when I was watching Brokeback Mountain for the first time, I paused at the scene where the two lead actors are about to get intimate, it seemed too much for me to take (I was watching a gay movie for the first time). But I gathered courage, put my prejudice aside and continued with the movie. I am not ashamed to admit that by the end of that lovely movie, I was almost in tears.  Heck I even exclaimed “this is like any other love story, except that the two involved are guys”.

Coming back to Moonrise Kingdom – The rest of the entire movie is earnest, slightly surreal, idealistic with a generous amount of reality blended in. And from the above quoted reviewer, you can tell that he/she himself thinks that the argument is prudish and silly.

People arguing that this movie is for pedophiles is absolutely outrageous, it’s like saying The Godfather is for the Mafia. Or that Brokeback Mountain is for closeted gays. Phhbbt!

For me Moonrise Kingdom was special, it slightly reminded me of my own childhood and my inability to connect with most people around me. So many times I wanted to run away from the realities of life too, just that at the age of 12, I did not find another misfit I could run away with.

It is a fun movie, a brilliant movie with beautiful screenplay and amazing soundtrack. The music tends to grow on you and the story sort of stays with you.

The movie is a little like the innocent nursery rhyme “cuckoo’ that features in it.

“Cuckoo, cuckoo… what do you do?

In April, I open my bill.
In May, I sing night and day.
In June, I change my tune.
in July, far, far I fly…
In August, away!”