Moonrise Kingdom
Metascore
84 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 43 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 43
  3. Negative: 1 out of 43
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  1. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Jun 22, 2012
    100
    A thoroughly endearing journey, and one of the most enjoyable and touching movies to land in theaters so far this year.
  2. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    Jun 21, 2012
    100
    The film is precious and adorable, but it isn't naïve, and the movie breathes so deep that Anderson even gets a real performance out of Willis (this is his best work in years).
  3. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Jun 8, 2012
    100
    The best film of the year and perhaps the purest love story in cinematic history.
  4. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    Jun 7, 2012
    100
    The usual complaints and caveats about Anderson - he's precious, his characters have no grounding in the real world - can be made about Moonrise Kingdom, but so what? This is his seventh feature, he has been working with a gang of collaborators in front of the camera and behind, and his worldview gets richer, and more revealing, even as the view from his lens gets smaller, closer, almost two-dimensional in its oddball tableaux.
  5. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Amy Biancolli
    May 31, 2012
    100
    The formality of Moonrise Kingdom - the orderly structure and dreamlike perfection of it all - is as poetic as any film I've seen this year.
  6. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    May 31, 2012
    100
    Moonrise Kingdom is Anderson's seventh movie, and it's the first since "Rushmore" that works from the opening shot to the final image.
  7. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    May 23, 2012
    100
    Rapturous and hilarious.
  8. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    May 23, 2012
    100
    Moonrise Kingdom is Anderson's most completely satisfying film since the one-two of "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," in part because it's the perfect distillation of both.
  9. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Jun 7, 2012
    90
    There isn't a false note among the performances. It's the first movie for Hayward and Gilman; whatever awkwardness they display is appropriate. Willis may never have been better. Norton is fantastic. Murray and McDormand are also ... well, you get the idea.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    May 24, 2012
    90
    Moonrise Kingdom breezes along with a beautifully coordinated admixture of droll humor, deadpan and slapstick. Like all of Mr. Anderson's films, though, there's a deep, pervasive melancholia here too.
  11. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    May 24, 2012
    90
    Beguiling and endearing.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    May 24, 2012
    90
    Here the writer-director's tendency toward the allegorical casts a magical spell with Anderson finding a near perfect balance between the humanism and the surreal that imprints all of his work.
  13. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Karina Longworth
    May 22, 2012
    90
    Shot on Super 16mm, the visible grain giving each image a wonderfully tactile depth and life, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom is, in a lot of ways, the ur–Wes Anderson film.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    Jun 6, 2012
    89
    Anderson and his co-writer Roman Coppola have crafted an elegant and emphatic metaphor for adolescence, that tumultuous province of firsts and lasts.
  15. NPR
    Reviewed by: Ian Buckwalter
    May 29, 2012
    89
    Anderson has the ability to control our emotions just as expertly as his camera.
  16. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    Jun 5, 2012
    88
    Moonrise Kingdom is lovingly crafted with an attention to detail that is breathtaking while, at the same time, it displays genuine affection for its young protagonists.
  17. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    May 31, 2012
    88
    First-time Anderson performers such as Willis, McDormand and especially Norton fold effortlessly into the melancholy end-of-summer vibe.
  18. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    May 30, 2012
    88
    Yes, we know these events are less than likely, and the film's entire world is fantastical. But what happens in a fantasy can be more involving than what happens in life, and thank goodness for that.
  19. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    May 24, 2012
    88
    Literate, melancholy and magical, Moonrise Kingdom is quintessential Wes Anderson, infused with his brand of daffy wit.
  20. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    May 24, 2012
    88
    The top-tier cast, including Tilda Swinton as a character called Social Services, may be star overload, but each actor performs small miracles.
  21. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Andrew Schenker
    May 17, 2012
    88
    Although the film remains continually fanciful, it always reminds us of the stakes in which precocious childhood rubs up against the possibility of a childhood denied altogether.
  22. Tampa Bay Times
    Reviewed by: Steve Persall
    Jun 27, 2012
    83
    These characters don't realize they're funny, and the actors are determined not to push it. Willis fares best, playing against in-control type; Murray fans expecting a comedy explosion won't find it here.
  23. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    May 26, 2012
    83
    It makes you nostalgic for the pangs of young love.
  24. indieWIRE
    Reviewed by: Eric Kohn
    May 21, 2012
    83
    Even when that story drags, Moonrise Kingdom could be appreciated on mute.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 392 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 89 out of 114
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 114
  3. Negative: 15 out of 114
  1. ejonconrad
    9
    It's clear from the reviews that you either like Wes Anderson movies or you don't. If you're not a fan, this will not turn you into one. If you are a fan, then you've been waiting a long time for this movie and you won't be disappointed. It's got a lot of familiar quirks: the colorful tableaux filming style, the eccentric characters, etc, but it's got new stuff as well. There's more genuine emotion in the movie than probably any of his films since Rushmore (although, as usual, it's a little subdued). He did interesting things with the relationship between Suzy and Sam, too - pushing the boundaries a bit while still ultimately keeping things "innocent". My only disappointment with the movie was that I felt he marginalized Bill Murray a bit. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen pretty much every good line he has. One the other hand, it was nice to see some new faces in the movie. In addition to the kids, Edward Norton looked like he was born to be in these movies, and Bruce Willis and Harvey Keitel (!) fit in quite nicely, too.

    Definitely worth seeing.    … Full Review »
  2. dafuq
    2
    The premise seemed very interesting, an orphan loner escapes from scout camp to elope with a young girl. The authority figures (police, scout masters) search the island trying to find them, with the help of the girls parents and the rest of the scouts. It sounds like a classic coming of age story between two socially inept outcasts, were it conjures the isolation of adolescence and the awkwardness of youth as it enters into sexual maturity. But the film wasn't really about the story at all and this is were it fell massively short. Moonrise kingdom is basically about how many visually symmetrical shots Wes Anderson can put onto a screen within 1 hour and 30 minutes. The colour scheme is typical Wes Anderson, vibrant red, greens, yellows and blue's, little bobble hats on most of the characters. The man has a 5 minute sequence at the start of dolly shots going up and down a house. Then followed by a dolly shot that travels left to right tediously for about three minutes with Edward Norton as he wakes up and goes outside for breakfast. He repeats this shot about 3-4 times during the film for similar lengths of time. When a letter appears on screen it's shot from birds eye view from above, when the main character reads a map it's shot from a birds eye view from above....everything is perfectly symmetrical. When they go to open a tent it's shot dead centre, then it's shot inside perfect symmetry as you see the zip being opened… Full Review »
  3. MarcDoyle
    10
    Wes Anderson's best movie in years - right up there with Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore. (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Life Aquatic, and Darjeeling each fell well short of my own expectations.) He nails the time period, the locations are perfect, the young actors are amazing (not over or underplaying anything) , the cadence is on the money, and the adults are much more genuine and sincere than they have been in other W.A. films. There is nary a dull moment in the film. Best of all, it brought back warm memories of my own time in the Khaki Scouts. It's my easiest recommendation in a while.… Full Review »
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