The fact that the young boy scouts are taken to seriously provides the comedy and in this sense the children are portrayed as being wise beyond they're years and closer to adulthood than childhood. The arguably clunky editing style however reiterates the childishness underlying the whole film. Rather than the skipping in time and space having the effect of deeming the production unprofessional however, in combination with the simplistic yet deliberate framing and shooting style, the miss-use of continuity adds to the charm and success of the film.
The screen-grabs below illustrate the simplistic visual style and the use of jump cuts.
These screenshots are captured one frame before the cut takes place.
The way in which the boy's actions jump from him holding a frying pan with one hand behind his back to him holding a spatula with the previously hidden hand constitutes a jump cut. The action of his arm moving to pick up the food and move it in her direction was deliberately cut as the action wasn't necessary, the fact that he's now offering her the fish is the only important detail. This sort of cutting differs from the usual way in which a scene is progressed. The way a man might be represented getting dressed for example, the audience doesn't need to see him putting on every item of clothing, the moment he wakes up could then cut to him dressed stood in the kitchen. The reason Moonrise Kingdom is different however is in the way that small actions are seemingly pointlessly cut with a disregard for continuity. The result, rather than being pointless, is an almost childlike realization of events, quickly skipping less interesting actions, focusing instead with the more important action.
Furthering the simplistic cutting style are moments illustrated in the screen-grabs below. If a character is talking about some thing in particular then more often than not it will cut to a locked off, mid shot or close up of the thing they are discussing. In this example the boy asks if the girls cat would like to eat the remains of the fish currently cooking in the pan. He points in the direction of the guts and accordingly the image cuts to a shot of the remains. It then cuts to a front-on shot of the girl in time for her reply, "no, the cat only eats cat food." She then points in the direction of the cat food and once again the image cuts very simply to a mid shot of some cat food. The lucid way in which action is depicted and cut together increases and emphasizes theses childish situations, made funny through how seriously the characters are them.
Below is one of my favorite jump cuts of the film due to its uncompromising simplicity. Personally I would never think to storyboard this kind of cut as on the surface it seems to break too much continuity however in the context of this film it works brilliantly. Once again, these screen-grabs are captured on the last and first frame of the cut. The boy climbs into the tent, right in front of the camera, then rather than cutting to perhaps a reverse shot of him settling in, it jumps to him in the tent and settled.
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