Over The Moon is the movie that contains Chinese culture in a charming fashion, with memorable songs, and theatrically trained actors. It is almost a redemption from the live action Mulan! The film is currently available on Netflix and started streaming on October 23rd. The director, Glean Keane, is a legendary animator who worked on many Disney animated films. His directing work on Dear Basketball (2017) gave him an Academy Award! It is written by Audrey Wells, she wrote the drama adaptation, The Hate U Give (2018), and the film is dedicated to her memory. The film comes from Pearl Studio, an animation studio based in Shanghai, which also worked on DreamWorks’ Abominable (2019). Over The Moon begins with a starry, night sky and a pullback from the purplish cosmos. We get narration from a woman (Ruthie Ann Miles) saying what scientists can tell us about space. Miles is a theatrical actress known for playing Lady Thiang in The King and I and won a Tony Award for the part!
What the scientists fall short is telling us about the Space Dog! An adorable, Chow Chow looking doggie. This sets the tone that there is a playful, magical element to the story. She explains that every night, the Space Dog takes a bite from the Moon, forming the Crescent Moon. We see the tiny feet of young Fei Fei (Bryce Hall) splash the reflection of the Moon. This is her first movie. Fei Fei has long hair like her mother. The story was told by her mother, Māma, who explains that the moon goddess, Chang’e, pronounced “Chong-uh”, makes the Space Dog spit out the Moon and restore it. She wears a scarf and gives her daughter a doll of the goddess. Her glasses wearing father, Bàba (John Cho) wants to give her the science, but Fei Fei likes Māma’s story. Cho is brilliant in the drama film, Searching (2018). Fei Fei wants to hear more about Chang’e’s story. She sings “On the Moon Above telling about the moon goddess, and the mortal hunter, Houyi pronounced “Who-yee.” The songs are by Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Huffield, and Helen Park. Curtis produced the musical Chaplin and Park worked on the musical KPOP.
It is an animated scene by Glen Keane and very beautiful like a Chinese painting come to life. She takes a magic potion that gives her immortality, really to prevent Houyi’s apprentice, Fengmeng from taking it. This causes their jade necklace to snap in two and sends Chang’e to the Moon. The lovers are separated and Houyi is mortal and dies, this loss is another theme that is strong in the film. She is there with Jade Rabbit, waiting for him, and Fei Fei sees the love that is the same with her parents. In the morning, Fei Fei runs through the streets of a Chinese city, running with the stick of a rabbit balloon, her rocket ship. Then, runs up to the food stall of her family, Fei Fei watches as the family makes Mooncakes. This is the traditional dessert for the Moon Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival. The family’s Mooncakes are very popular. Ma Ma is singing about the magic in the Mooncakes and stumbles, uh-oh. Fei Fei shows a customer facts about the Moon, very science oriented, it becomes fall and Māma has a cane and looks tired.
Still, her parents have a surprise, in a Mooncake box is a tiny bunny! A mist falls over the town and we see Bàba look in on his sad daughter. They let a lotus flower drift in the river in honor of Māma’s memory. Then, we see Fei Fei, now fourteen years old, (Cathy Ang). Ang was an actress in the theatrical production of Maybe Happy Ending about a future in Seoul, South Korea with robots! She is the lead for an all Asian cast. Fei Fei now has her hair in a wild, short cut with a headband. It is four years later. Fei Fei brings a Mooncake for the photograph of her mother. She joins her father rolling dough for more Mooncakes. In the morning, the stall is open for business again for the Moon Festival. Fei Fei is about to deliver Mooncakes on her bike with her bunny, Bungee. The expressions for the bunny are hilarious. She ends up at a construction site of a new Maglev train. Fei Fei knows all about magnetic levitation. She returns home and finds red dates at the baking table for their new guest, Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh). The actress has won acclaim for her part in the drama, Killing Eve.
Fei Fei is suprised by an excitable boy, eight years old, Chin (Robert G. Chiu), he believes he has a super power, to run through walls. He likes to give the warcry, “No barriers!” on his runs. Chin has a pet frog, Croak, that leaps into everyone. Fei Fei and Bàba are hanging lanterns for the festival and father admits he is lonely. The aunties arrive, Auntie Ling (Margaret Cho) and Muntie Mei (Kimiko Glenn). Mrs. Zhong offers the red dates, but Fei Fei wants to keep to her mother’s melon seeds. Ba Ba sits next to Mrs. Zhong which upsets Fei Fei. She argues about the existence of Chang’e and also trying to hold the Lazy Susan turntable and ends up spilling some of the food. She leaves hearing from the others that she has high grades, but still believes in Chang’e. Fei Fei is struck by ping pong balls hit by Chin’s paddle. This doesn’t make sense since he should be at the table. He is excited that his mother and Bàba are getting married. Fei Fei thinks that if her father believed again in Chang’e, he would remember Māma.
She sees Bungee at the window with the moonlight pouring down. Bungee hops down and Fei Fei chases after her. Bungee stops at a dock to see a white heron, Fei Fei walks over to pick up her rabbit, and the heron flies away. She sings about her plan to make Bàba remember her mother. Cathy Ang sings beautifully. The heron seems to fly to the moon. Then, Fei Fei comes up with the idea to build a rocket! Fei Fei begins her rocket project starting with model rockets and later gets a breakthrough from her rocket sketch next to a picture of the mag lev train at school. She starts to cobble together pieces for her rocket. This makes me think of the homemade spacecraft in Explorers (1985). Her rocket has a balloon exterior that looks like a bunny. She is joined on her adventure by Chin, a stowaway!, and manages to get to the Moon. There she finds Chang’e (Phillipa Soo). The actress is well known for singing in Hamilton. Her costume design is by Guo Pei. Her world on the Moon is Lunaria, a colorful world right out of Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). Chang’e has Fei Fei travel the magical world of Lunaria to find The Gift. She also has the help of a green pangolin, Gobi (Ken Jeong). He is known for Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and sings here! Over The Moon is a wonderful animated film with the dreams of space exploration, magic, and themes of family and love.
Five Mooncakes out of Five!
#OverTheMoon, #GlenKeane, #CathyAng, #JohnCho, #PhilipaSoo
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