OVER THE MOON

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview OVER THE MOON – received this packet from Netflix for their animated musical (directed by Glen Keane). The story centers around a young girl in China, Fei Fei (Cathy Ang ) whose mother loved to tell her stories of a Mythical Moon Goddess named Chang’e (Phillipa Soo) who pines for her one true love Houyi. I re-watched the very beginning when the myth is explained because I thought maybe I’d missed something as I don’t understand why she took two immortality pills, one meant for Houyi; what the urgency was to take them; or where the immortality pills came from in the first place. None of it is ever explained. However, this is why Chang’e ends up on the moon separated from her love for eternity.

When Fei Fei’s mother dies from what looks like MS (why does a parent always have to die in these animated stories!) 4 years later Fei Fei’s father is looking to remarry, and Fei Fei feels he should stay true to her mother until they can meet again, the way of Chang’e for Houyi. The father of course, is like even if that was a real story, I need someone in my life now. Still, Fei Fei feels if she can prove Chang’e existence perhaps her father will change his mind about remarrying. So she sets about learning Physics and Aeronautics in order to one day make it to the moon. 

I’m all for stories that encourage young girls to have STEM skills. And the animation/illustration combines a colorful array of styles that makes a lovely, extremely lively visual.  Not authentically Chinese, but culturally Asian.  They casted socially correct, with the actors voicing the characters all of Asian Ancestry.

As tragic as it is that the screenwriter Audrey Wells passed away before ever getting a chance to see this film come to fruition, I still have to say the story needs work. the “MacGuffin” the gift for Chang’e isn’t logical at all. The film is looking to pull your heart strings like last year’s ABOMINABLE, another movie set in China that felt more Asian American, it wasn’t a great animated feature either, but its characters were infectious. I wasn’t particularly drawn to anyone in “Over the Moon” and on first listen, I didn’t hear anything catchy in the songs. 

I do however, love the hardcover book and will cherish the artistry of it.