Cannes opens with Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

The sunbaked Cannes Film Festival got under way with Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom,” whose carefully composed whimsy stood in stark contrast to the zoo-like atmosphere at the annual French Riviera extravaganza.

Anderson's film, which was shown to the press before its official premiere on Wednesday evening, opened the 65th edition of Cannes. While that anniversary — marked by festival posters of Marilyn Monroe — suggests maturity, "Moonrise Kingdom" began things on a childlike note.

The film is about two preteens (newcomers Jared Gilman and Kaya Heyward) in love and running away together on a remote New England island in a 1965, Norman Rockwell-esque America. Stamped with Anderson's trademark visual style to almost the degree of his animated "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," the movie is seen almost entirely from the point of view of the kids.

The adults in the film — a combination of Anderson regulars like Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman with newcomers like Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton — are more cynical and react in different ways to the purity of the children's gambit.

"These are what you call art films," Murray deadpanned at the film's press conference. "All we get is a trip to Cannes."

The cast and filmmakers assembled at Cannes for one of the more glamorous premieres in cinema.

Earlier in the day, further down the Croisette, the city's famous promenade, the zoo of Cannes took on a literal sense.

Sacha Baron Cohen brought in a camel in his latest stunt to promote his upcoming comedy, "The Dictator." The comedian held a press conference outside his hotel, then mounted the animal with some trouble and rode down the row of boutique stores to apparently take in some shopping.

He also managed to nearly fall off the camel but was caught.

As he slowly made his way down the street, Baron Cohen was mobbed by dozens of photographers, bringing traffic to a halt and drawing the curiosity of police. After a short stroll, Baron Cohen turned around and returned to the hotel — possibly to strike again later.

Such a stunt, while certainly unique, isn't uncommon at Cannes, where movies often go to extremes to catch the world media's attention. Billboards of films due out this year are plastered around town and many others are being screen out of competition.

DreamWorks has consistently used the festival to hype projects in the works, and did so again Wednesday with a presentation of "The Rise of the Guardians," an animated family film for this year's holiday movie season. It gathers slightly different versions of mythic childhood characters — including Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fischer) — in an "Avengers"-like league of world protection.

Baldwin, never one to bite his tongue, showed no interest in sugarcoating the truth for younger audiences: "Fairy Tooth is a club in lower Manhattan," he declared.

The Cannes Film Festival runs through May 27 with eagerly anticipated films to come from Walter Salles, David Cronenberg and Michael Haneke.

PA