Netflix’s ‘Over the Moon’: A Story of Love, Heartache, and Mooncakes
Over the Moon, if you don’t think about it too hard, is a sweet movie. Directed by Glen Keane and John Kars and released on Netflix in October 2020, the film follows a young girl named Fei Fei through her journey to space to meet the moon goddess Chang’e, as well as her experience with loss after her mother’s death. It’s a heartwarming tale of love, grief, and the intricacies of moving on.
The first act of the movie is one of motherly love and mooncakes. Fei Fei’s parents run a business making mooncakes for the village. When she’s not helping to run the shop, Fei Fei constantly asks to hear the story of moon goddess Chang’e, who drank the potion of immortality and now lives in constant search for her true love, Houyi. After a series of unfortunate events — her mother’s death and her father’s new girlfriend — Fei Fei finds it hard to believe that her father has moved on from his wife’s death so quickly. In a mission to make her father believe in Chang’e again, our protagonist builds a rocket to the moon (accompanied with a wonderful song of the same name, sung by actress Cathy Ang). This part of the film is endearing; the portrayal of Fei Fei and her family is authentic, and watching her experience with loss as a young child just pulls at the viewer’s heartstrings.
We first meet Chang’e when she performs “Ultraluminary,” an electropop stadium hit, for her moon inhabitants — called Lunarians. Voiced by Philippa Soo, Chang’e is not what viewers expect. She is self-absorbed, controlling, and nothing like what the childhood stories depicted her as. I understand the contrast the filmmakers were aiming for, but the modernized version of Chang’e feels like a mockery of the original, beautiful Chinese tale.
The authenticity and attention to detail in the first act, quite frankly, seems to have been thrown out the window for the rest of the movie. Once Fei Fei reaches the moon, there are bright neon life forms and awkwardly shaped Lunarians scattered across the screen. The plot in this section is painfully one dimensional — Fei Fei is trying to obtain “the Gift.” She faces a number of obstacles, including fighting off other Lunarians and jumping through leap frogs in space, but it feels more like a time filler than anything. She meets a green creature named Gobi, who only serves his purpose for about half an hour. Without spoiling the end, I can really only say that the film continues to be a bit messy and abrupt. The resolution seems like an odd compromise, but nonetheless, it satisfies all the open endings.
I have my fair share of critiques on this movie. While this wasn’t my greatest concern while watching, I would be wrong not to comment on yet another appearance of the dead mom trope in a children’s movie. The trope isn’t misused in Over the Moon, but it does get tiring to see this repetitive hero origin story. Additionally, I really did admire the variety in character design for most of the characters; we saw a diversity of face shape and build — except when it came to the three main women in the film: Chang’e, Fei Fei’s mother, and her father’s girlfriend. All three follow the standard big eyes, small mouth, triangular face shape combination that Disney and other animators love to recycle.
Speaking of Disney, this is not a Disney film. Over the Moon is a Netflix Original, but follows many of the standard Disney tropes that I’ve mentioned — funky side character, dead mom, journey through an alternate universe — the usual! The director, Glen Keane, comes fresh off of 38 years as a Walt Disney animator, working on films like Tangled and Aladdin. There is nothing inherently wrong with following the classic Disney structure. However, I wish Netflix would create a signature style for their animated films rather than using the template Disney has curated over the years.
Despite these criticisms, Over the Moon is a hugely important film. It is the first film distributed by a Hollywood studio to have an entirely Asian cast. Seeing Fei Fei and her family practice Chinese traditions on screen is so important for all the children watching; it is refreshing to see someone who looks like you on the screen, and conversely, to see proper portrayals of cultures that aren’t yours. In the end, this is a children’s movie. It is well-intentioned, light hearted, and entertaining. It explores Fei Fei’s experiences with loss, love, and the difficulty of moving on, in a way that kids can digest and relate to. This film shot for the moon, almost got there, but instead landed on a somewhat satisfactory star — it’s alright.
Aarushi Gupta (15) is a rising sophomore in the IB program at Richard Montgomery High School. She loves music, writing, and talking to her friends. She’s also very passionate about politics. You can find her on Instagram at @aarushigupt.a or email her at aarushigupta300@gmail.com.
Originally published on March 28, 2021 at https://yellohmoose.org.
