Director Wes Anderson puts a stamp on his films unlike any other director. Sometimes all you need to see is a single frame, or just an appearance by Bill Murray, to know it’s a movie from the man who gave us “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
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“Moonrise Kingdom,” Anderson’s first live-action film since the disappointing “The Darjeeling Limite,” five years ago, gathers a typically eclectic cast to tell a story that, well, it’s pretty hard to suss it all out.
Anderson’s latest follows a pair of pre-teens who decide to run away from their respective families. The trailer doesn’t offer much more than that, but we get plenty of stylistic flourishes, that uniquely Anderson way of framing his characters and familiar faces cast in unfamiliar roles.
When was the last time Edward Norton looked so lovable, or so lost?
Murray is on hand, of course, along with Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton and “Rushmore’s” Jason Schwartzman.
One’s affection for “Kingdom” might hinge on your reaction to Anderson’s past work. He’s clearly not mucking with his own formula, which is very good news – as long as this isn’t another “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” Anderson’s 2004 bomb remains one of the punishing movie experiences in recent memory.