Moonrise Kingdom reminded me a bit of Our Town-with the narrative framing of the local narrator. I don’t think that I was in the right mood to love Moonrise Kingdom though I did enjoy it. I was haunted by the Smurfette vibe and Bechdel test. Are his female characters essentially manic pixie dream girls except without the highs? I kept asking myself questions about Wes Anderson since I have seen many of his films. Why do all his characters have a monotone, serious delivery with momentary inflection changes if a character shouts? Is he trying to make a play using film as the stage and to flatten film tropes to make them less cliche, more realistic and feasible? Why does he prefer and excel at films involving children who basically act like mini-adults? Moonrise Kingdom essentially uses the children’s romance to highlight the absurdities of adulthood and pathos of childhood-not carefree and light. If you like Wes Anderson, it is a must see, but I also suspect that he is missing a world of childhood romance that is essentially immature, far less sensibly executed and equally risky but with far dire consequences. His world is a melancholic fairy tale.