Moonrise Kingdom Script Analysis: A Quirky, Crayon-Drawn Ode to Youthful Rebellion
Wes Anderson is iconically known for his visuals, color palettes, and textured cinematography — but what happens when you take that away and just read the blueprint? Turns out, his screenplays brim with charm, quirky characters, and whimsy. With elements of nostalgia, romance, and that underdog can-do spirit, readers can expect a fun ride.
His 2012 coming-of-age dramedy Moonrise Kingdom, co-written by Roman Coppola, was inspired by the writers’ own personal experiences, memories of childhood fantasies, and films they loved growing up. It premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival before being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Grab your bug spray and let’s dive in!
OPENING IMAGE
Anderson and Coppola waste no time in jumping into the visuals and texture. While emerging screenwriters are warned to keep action paragraphs to three lines and under, these guys fill their first page with chunks of descriptions about what this film will look like. Anderson films are atmospheric — the visuals are a character all in their own, and his screenplays reflect that.
SET UP
Moonrise Kingdom follows Suzy Bishop, age 12, living with her parents and three younger brothers. Long before Suzy speaks, we receive clues about her: she’s reading a book called Shelly and the Secret Universe. She pauses to raise a pair of binoculars and look out into the rain. This is not a boisterous young pre-teen — this is an introspective dreamer.
Indeed, the first character to speak is the Narrator, a man who talks directly to the camera with the details of a 1960s Disney documentary.
We then move to our second little hero, 12 year-old Sam Shakusky — but his introduction arrives via his absence. Sam is a member of the Khaki Scouts, every one of whom takes their roles and positions, nay, their duties seriously, especially Scout Master Ward. Not Sam, though. Sam has flown the coop. But not without a resignation letter brimming with clues that let us know that Sam is sensitive, Sam has not been living up to whatever is demanded of a Khaki Scout, and Sam is worried that Scout Master Ward might take the resignation with some guilt.
Sam is gone and it turns out he’s recently become an orphan and his current foster parents don’t want him anymore on account of him being “emotionally disturbed.” Scout Master Ward doesn’t know what he’s going to do about Sam, but he does know that it’s up to him and the Khaki Scouts to find him.
Again, these scouts take their jobs very seriously. One kid asks if he’s allowed to use force to bring Sam in. (He is not).
Scout Master Ward notifies Captain Sharp at the police station and Captain Sharp notifies the nearby Bishop residence. Through her binoculars, Suzy spots Sam and his extremely large back-pack. Next thing we know, Suzy has her portable record player, a small suitcase, and her kitten in a basket out in a wide meadow where she meets up with Sam. Even the details here are tender.
“Suzy watches him approach. She swallows. Her lips part. (NOTE: Suzy is slightly taller than Sam.)”
Then the film cuts to “One Year Earlier.”
INCITING INCIDENT
So Anderson and Coppola have given us our inciting incident — these two young wallflowers have run away together. Next, they will show us their meet-cute (adorbs) and how they planned their grand adventure.
Like, heyyyyyy Sam — that’s some game you got there, little buddy! That’s how you make a girl feel special. It works. Suzy runs off to perform as a raven and Sam holds in his hand a note from her: “Write to me.”
The film cuts back to the present, that wide open field, where Sam consults his map and points to his cartography badge. He knows what he’s doing. As they progress on their adventure, Sam continues to share his worldly knowledge of outdoor survival training. Here’s another place where Anderson’s whimsy comes through in the dialogue.
BREAK INTO TWO
Sam and Suzy continue on their adventure, their quirky banter revealing just how young they are. She’s wearing her mother’s perfume. He pretends to agree with her without knowing precisely what she’s talking about. He still wears a life-preserver because he’s not that strong of a swimmer. They’re precious and innocent — a pure nostalgic romance.
They’re setting up their new little life together, where Anderson and Coppola give us random little details that fill up the page with texture (ie: Suzy brought lefty scissors because she’s left-handed).
We also start to learn more about these young souls. When Sam realizes Suzy stole books from the library just to “have a secret to keep” and to “feel in a better mood sometimes,” he asks her point blank if she’s depressed. She shares that she discovered a pamphlet her parents had titled “Coping with the Very Troubled Child” — her. He tells her he’s on her side and she begins to read aloud to him.
FUN AND GAMES
It isn’t until dinnertime that Suzy’s parents even realize she isn’t home. She hasn’t come down to dinner and she left her brother a note about borrowing his record player for ten days or less. Suddenly, the manhunt is important to the Bishops. Mrs. Bishop informs Captain Sharp that Suzy is missing too and he better go find her. Mr. Bishop joins him. When they return from an awkward interaction (looks like Mrs. Bishop and Captain Sharp might be having an affair), Mrs. Bishop has discovered a shoebox with a year’s worth of letters between Sam and Suzy.
Again, the details are incredibly amusing (though not for Suzy’s parents, of course).
The screenplay spends the next few pages sharing their correspondence along with a montage of the various things the children were doing in their lives whilst writing, which includes fights, being bullied, and generally living as outliers. It is clear why they were ready to make their plan.
The adults level up the plan now. It’s time to take the search seriously and bring in some airpower.
BAD TO WORSE
But it’s the Khaki Scouts who find them first. Now that they’re deputized, they’re keen to bring these two fugitives in, especially Sam, whom they already don’t like. But Sam and Suzy have no intention of going quietly. The Khaki Scouts attack and the script cuts to a wide shot of the canyon with shouts, screams, and a small explosion before the scouts make a limping retreat.
It seems as though the lovebirds have earned a victory, but at a dark cost (and one that I haven’t forgiven the writers for). The little jack terrier belonging to the scouts is fatally wounded in the skirmish and it brings out some misogyny in Sam and a great killer instinct in Suzy.
ALL IS LOST
As the Bishops, Captain Sharp, and Scout Master Ward receive news of the skirmish from the scouts, the Narrator makes his part in the story known — he’d taught Sam cartography and history of the island and he has an idea of where the kids may have gone.
Suzy and Sam retreat to their lagoon and experience more of life’s first: getting one’s ears pierced, first kiss, first hard-on. Are they too young for this? I’d argue so, especially when Sam warns Suzy that he may wet the bed. Part of the charm of the film is watching these youngsters try to find their way towards adulthood. We were all there once, thinking we were ready for things we weren’t ready for at all.
Of course, nothing lasts forever. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop arrive, rip off the tent, and discover Sam and Suzy, half-naked, entwined, kissing.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
The children are separated. Social Services comes for Sam, laying out a path that leads to an orphanage, a psychological evaluation, and possibly electroshock therapy. Suzy’s mother confronts her and Suzy confronts her mother right back, accusing her of going to bed with “that sad, dumb police man.” Mrs. Bishop acknowledges that he is not dumb but he is kind of sad. Then she asks how she’s gonna get the fish hooks out of Suzy’s now-pierced ears.
Sam, now with Captain Sharp, talk man to man about Sam’s past and his motivations. Meanwhile, the Khaki Scouts begin to have a change of mind.
BREAK INTO THREE
Mrs. Bishop ends her affair with Captain Sharp, saying she’s got to do better by everyone — everyone but him, that is. Captain Sharp admits to admiring the children and their romantic spirit in a way.
Meanwhile, Sam is surprised to see a climbing rope appear in his chimney, with the Khaki Scouts there “in friendship” along with Suzy. It’s a rescue mission. They flee to a cave in the woods where Suzy reads to them all in the darkness.
The next morning, Scout Master Ward discovers that his scouts are missing. In fact, they’ve teamed up with one of the Khaki Scout’s cousins, who is older and a Falcon Scout, Legionnaire. “Cousin Ben’ll know what to do.”
The children “marry” and Sam confronts the Khaki Scouts about why they bullied him. There’s a moment of honesty before it all goes wrong, leading one of them to holler their position, turning the scouts against Sam one final time. That’s when a storm rolls in.
FINALE
A flash flood tears through, allowing Scout Master Ward to redeem himself after losing Sam and then the rest of his troop. Ward takes off with a group of volunteers to find the kids as Social Services shows up to take Sam to Juvenile refuge. The adults muck over the details for a few pages while the storm continues to rage.
Finally Captain Sharp and Scout Master Ward, followed by the Bishops, shake the truth out of the Khaki Scouts — Suzy and Sam have headed for the church roof. As the children tight-rope walk along the edge of the slippery roof and contemplate jumping into the water where they’ll either break their necks or possibly drown, Captain Sharp works with the Bishops (who are lawyers) to determine a different solution: he wants to foster Sam.
Sam agrees tearfully and the children begin to climb down.
That’s when lightning strikes.
As the story winds down, Scout Master Ward oversees reconstruction of the camp, Sam continues to visit Suzy — but now at her home instead off in the wilderness — before being driven home by his new foster father.
The screenplay ends on a bucolic painting completed by Sam of his and Suzy’s inlet campsite, which he has renamed “Moonrise Kingdom.”
