Moonrise: Kingdom

It’s a tiny, perfect thunderclap of a movie. Quirky? Yes. But never cold. It’s Anderson’s warmest film—a reminder that childhood’s fiercest feelings are often the truest.

The film is a coming-of-age story where the children act like adults (calculating routes, drafting treaties, using proper handshake techniques) and the adults act like children (throwing tantrums, fleeing responsibility, failing to listen). The climax—a literal lightning strike on a church roof, followed by a slow-motion rescue—feels both absurd and deeply moving. Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom , Wes Anderson’s 2012 jewel, is the story of two misfit twelve-year-olds: Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman), a bespectacled, pipe-smoking Khaki Scout orphan, and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), a brooding, bookish girl who keeps a kitten and a pair of binoculars in a vinyl record case. After a year of secret pen-pal letters, they execute a daring wilderness escape to an inlet they call Moonrise Kingdom. It’s a tiny, perfect thunderclap of a movie