“Moonrise Kingdom” is one of many examples which shows Wes Anderson to be one of the most imaginative filmmakers working today. With his story of two 12-year-old kids falling in love and running away together, he gives us a whimsical journey into a past filled with innocence that constantly gets upended by bouts of family dysfunction. In a time where Hollywood relies too much on old ideas and endless remakes, seeing Anderson get an original movie like this made feels like a miracle.

“Moonrise Kingdom” takes place on the New England island of New Penzance in the year 1965. Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) has encouraged his pen pal of one year, Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), to run away with him into the island’s wilderness. Doing this, however, sends their parents and the town into a frenzy as they desperately search to find them before all hell breaks loose.

Sam himself is an orphan whose foster parents no longer want him around, and his running off with Suzy coincides with his resigning as a member of the Khaki Scout summer camp which is led by Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton). While Sam has learned many useful skills, he is despised by all the other members he is forced to spend time with. In Suzy, he finds a much-needed soul mate who herself is ostracized from her schoolmates and is not blind to the marital difficulties her attorney parents, Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura (Frances McDormand), are going through. Suzy is even aware of her mother having an affair with the island’s police Captain, Duffy Sharp (Bruce Willis).

But it turns out that these two kids have done the island of New Penzance a huge favor as their romantic getaway wakes up its inhabitants from the sullen slumber their lives have descended into. This is especially the case with Walt and Laura who appear to be bereft of emotions for one another. It gets to where Laura can barely communicate with Walt without using a bullhorn to get his and their kids’ attention. When Walt finds out his daughter has run away, he responds to Laura by informing him of this situation as a “loaded question” more than anything else.

The sullenness of the adults is contrasted sharply with the sheer innocence of Sam and Suzy as we watch their romance bloom. Their adventurous behavior proves to be contagious as they read through storybooks Suzy stole from the local library, and dance to vinyl records of lively French rock music. The specific details Anderson gives these characters make them among the most unique kids I have ever seen at the movies. With their taste in art, literature and music, they threaten to seem more mature than their parents to an infinite degree.

It is this theme of innocence which permeates “Moonrise Kingdom” throughout as Sam and Suzy deal with what is left of their innocence while others desperately try to recapture it for themselves. Randy Ward is an example of a man trying to stay young by embracing his role as a scout leader to where he takes it a little too seriously. To him, this role gives his life more meaning than any day job ever could, but the kids under his command do not all see it in the same way he does.

Then there’s Willis’ character of Captain Sharp who, like Sam and Suzy, feels like a loner on this small island. In this role, Willis almost threatens to outdo Murray’s sullen expression as his face becomes a mask of inescapable sadness. It is through searching for these kids that his life finds new meaning as they make him feel young again and give him a reason to live a life with more purpose.

Having read all this, one might think “Moonrise Kingdom” is some sort of serious drama, but it’s really a wondrous coming of age movie with a lot of gleefully inspired comedic moments. Anderson has always populated his movies with sad characters, and yet he still finds ways for the audience to laugh with them during their endless struggles. While this film has him once again dealing with his favorite themes of family dysfunction and arrested development, he finds a wonderful slant which ends up making it one of his best efforts.

One of Anderson’s other successes here is in making a period piece that is not a prisoner to its period. While its eclectic soundtrack (a must buy by the way) gets the music of 1965 down perfectly, this movie takes place in a world which does not completely mesh with reality. As a result, “Moonrise Kingdom” almost feels like it could be taking place at any period of time. Perhaps that can be the result of us remembering the first time we ever fell in love like Sam Suzy do.

Like the best Wes Anderson movies, there is not a single weak performance to be found here, and the actors inhabit their characters to the best of their abilities. Murray, a veteran of several Anderson movies, still strikes comedic gold even as his characters he portrays seem to get sadder and sadder. McDormand is highly entertaining to watch as always, and that is regardless of whether or not her character needs a bullhorn to be heard.

Among the newbies to the Anderson cinematic universe, Bruce Willis proves to be a surprising and welcome addition as the lonely police captain. His face can speak a thousand words even when he does not speak, and he looks to be having a blast in the kind of movie one we often do not expect to see him in.

Norton was another newbie to Anderson’s movies when “Moonrise Kingdom” was made and released, and it is nice to see him let loose in a way he was not always able to back in the day. His role of the hapless scout master Randy Ward allows him to create a character who could have easily just been someone to laugh at with endless disdain. Never does he play Randy for laughs like others would have, and that makes his performance all the stronger for it.

As for the actors inhabiting Sam and Suzy, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward do a fantastic job of capturing their characters’ individual sensibilities and unique aspects. Thanks to their performances, they make these pre-teens seem very human and not your typical kids searching for meaning in a formulaic motion picture.

In addition, you get excellent performances from Jason Schwartzman as Cousin Ben, and another from Khaki Scout who aids the two runaways in their quest to be together. Even Harvey Keitel shows up in a delightfully unexpected way as Commander Pierce, the king of all Khaki Scouts.

Beautifully shot and wonderfully written, “Moonrise Kingdom” stands alongside “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as one of Anderson’s best and most inventive movies, and this will continue to be the case with each successive motion picture he makes. His work represents a highly imaginative cinematic landscape that filmmakers in general do not have the opportunity and support to pull off, and the realization of this proves to be quite depressing. Movies like this one make me hope there are still those in Hollywood who will not be risk adverse on a regular basis and embrace creativity more often than not.

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