MOONRISE KINGDOM US comedy, directed by Wes Anderson, starring Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Edward Norton. 94 min. Rated 12A.

Wes Anderson makes films about small worlds in which big things happen: love, heartbreak, calamities, death. In his latest, the wondrous storybook tale “Moonrise Kingdom,” a girl and a boy, both 12, run off to a remote inlet on an island where most of the adults seem disappointed and more than a little sad. The girl and the boy are very serious — about love, their plans, books, life itself — and often act older than their age. She wears bright blue eyeliner; he puffs on a corncob pipe. You wonder what their hurry is, given that here adulthood, with its quarrels, regrets and anguished pillow talk, can feel as dangerous as the storm that’s hurtling toward the island, ready to blow it all down. The two young romantics in “Moonrise Kingdom,” which opened the 65th Cannes Film Festival, are gifted and, according to grown-ups who are supposed to know about such things, problem children. — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

RED DOG Australian family-comedy-drama, directed by Kriv Stenders, written by Louis de Bernières, starring Josh Lucas, Noah Taylor, Keisha Castle-Hughes. 92 min. Rated PG.

The highest-grossing Australian film of 2011 and recently voted one of Australia’s top 10 films of all time. Based on Louis de Bernières’ ("Captain Correlli’s Mandolin") novella, "Red Dog" chronicles the real-life travels of a much-loved dog through western Australia's Pilbara region in the 1970s. In the newly established mining town of Dampier, miners, steelworkers, crawler excavator drivers come from all over the world. When the sun goes down, these straight-talking grafters make their way to the local watering hole where they drink, reminisce and have a good old brawl. But one particular night, things are somewhat quieter than usual. In the back room a dog is drawing its last breath. And this isn’t just any old dog - this is Red Dog, a dog everybody knows and loves and about whom everyone has a story to tell.

Opening with a shot of Dampier's Mermaid hotel and closing with a fading view of the outback, the cinematography shows the Pilbara in all its glory. In a time when the market in family films is dominated by studio CGI blockbusters, it is a refreshing surprise to find a beguiling work from an idea that goes all the way back to the adventures of Lassie and Tin Tin.

“In the tradition of films such as semi-fictionalised "The Castle," it's a hilarious and occasionally sad look at a side of Australian life whose essence is rarely captured with such affectionate accuracy.” — Giles Anderton, The Guardian

MAO'S LAST DANCER Australian epic drama, directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Bruce Greenwood. 117 min. Rated 12A.

A giant hit at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, "Mao’s Last Dancer," by the great Australian director Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy"), is a feel-good film bursting with courage, energy and overwhelming inspiration. Based on the best-selling memoirs by dance sensation Li Cunxin, it is the epic saga of a poor Chinese peasant boy living during the dictatorship of Mao Tse-tung, who is plucked from a crude, one-room schoolhouse in the remote rural province of Shandong at age 11 and sent to ballet school at Madame Mao’s Dance Academy in Beijing, eventually becoming a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and ending up a celebrated international star. Unbelievable but true, it is as entertaining as it is astounding. In the cherished tradition of heartbreaking movies about personal triumph against impossible odds, it is a combination of "Billy Elliot" and "Rocky." — Rex Reed, The New York Observer