Arts: Moonrise Kingdom

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Movies Moonrise Kingdom A gorgeously shot, ingeniously crafted, occasionally irritating Wes Anderson bonbon. By Dana Stevens Posted Thursday, May 24, 2012, at 11:23 PM ET Also in Slate: Listen to our interview with Wes Anderson, in which he explains his obsession with childhood fantasies and his love of pop music, and head over to Brow Beat to play Wes Anderson Bingo. Wes Anderson is one of those directors about whom one is supposed to stake a position. The binary breaks down something like this: Is he an aggravatingly twee hyper-stylist or a uniquely gifted, visually innovative auteur? Of course, that's a formulation so reductive as to be nonsensical: Anderson can be a little—sometimes a lot—of both at once. Of his films so far, there are only two I unreservedly love, Rushmore and Fantastic Mr. Fox, and none I truly hate (OK, maybe The Darjeeling Limited , which left me feeling bashed over the head by that symbolic Louis Vuitton luggage.) In the space of a single scene in an Anderson movie, I can go from rolling my eyes to clapping in childish delight and back again. But he's definitely on the list of directors whose films I tend to await with real excitement—not just "Hmmm, wonder what he'll do next?" but "Ooh, this could be fun!" And Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features) is fun: a gorgeously shot, ingeniously crafted, über-Andersonian bonbon that, even in its most irritatingly whimsical moments, remains an effective deliverer of cinematic pleasure. (Unless you really hate Wes Anderson, in which case I bet it would be one of his funnest movies to mock.) A love story about ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Bizarre Legal Case That Could Force 1.2 Million Canadians To Be Married—Against Their Will A Cutting-Edge Solution to the Old Ketchup-Bottle Problem Culture Gabfest: What Makes The Bachelorette Such Addictive Television?	Advertisement
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