Hey everyone and here I am with a new 2020 movie review! For this one I am going to be talking about one of the films that was nominated for best animated feature at last year’s Oscars, Over the Moon. This was yet another new animated feature from Netflix who was really pushing this to be their big contender for the animation category and it is notable for being the feature length directing debut of famous Disney animator, Glen Keane. For those who do not know he was a character animator on so many famous Disney movies like the Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, and more and he even did a couple of shorts such as Kobe Bryant’s “Dear Basketball” which won the Oscar for best animated short. Needless to say the man is a legend in the realm of animation and I was very excited to see what he had up his sleeve for his directorial debut. Ultimately while I may not have absolutely loved it as much as others seem to have as I do have some notable issues with it, I still did find many things to admire about it all the same. So now let’s blast off on an adventure to a very mystical side of the moon to find the Moon goddess herself.
The movie follows a young girl named Fei Fei who is very close to her family, especially her mother who tells her the story of the Moon goddess, Chang’e, who took a potion of immortality to be with her lover, Houyi, forever, but she ascends to the Moon as a Goddess waiting for her love to come. Fei Fei becomes enamored by the story and comes to truly believe that Chang’e exists up there. Every year her family would make mooncakes for the village due to the annual Moon Festival and they would make them as a family. However Fei Fei’s mother becomes seriously ill and passes away leaving her with a rabbit named Bungee as a gift. Fours years pass and the loss still greatly affects her and she becomes even more upset when her father finds new love and becomes engaged to Mrs. Zhong something that she does not like especially as she is annoyed by her son, Chin. Soon Fei Fei decides to build a rocket ship so she can travel to the moon to find Chang’e and prove that she is real and remind her father of the love he once had. She is eventually able to make a functioning ship and blast off on her journey… with an unexpected stowaway in Chin joining along as well. They arrive on the moon and find the moon kingdom where they meet Chang’e and well she isn’t what Fei Fei expected. Now she must go on a quest for the goddess, one that escalates quickly. Can Fei Fei be able to find what she needs in order to help Chang’e before it’s too late and will they both be able to change for the better?
In my eyes this a movie that has a lot of individual pieces that are strong it’s just that it’s plot is pretty rough around the edges, specifically in the first two acts. I feel the set up of the conflict felt a bit rushed as it just goes from one scene to the next without showing or establishing certain details that would have benefitted the flow of the film and the development of the characters. That doesn’t mean it’s bad work, it just could have used some additional scenes here and there to help make the movie not seem like it’s just trying to move on to the next musical number. As for the middle that’s where things become a little aimless as we follow Fei Fei trying on her quest while also feeling like the people behind this movie were throwing a whole bunch of ideas, plot lines, and characters onto the movie and it became pretty messy with all that was going on. That being said Glen Keane definitely put a lot of heart into this and it shows throughout as similar to recent animated movies like Abominable and Onward it has a very important message regarding grief and how our protagonist and Chang’e deal with it and how to move forward in life to become better people. For the most part I like how the movie handles it and a lot of the best scenes here are the more quieter parts where the characters talk about how they feel and the losses they have suffered. Plus things pick up significantly once we get to the third act as things go in a surprising direction and it works really well as rather than going for something big and flashy, the climax is very intimate and deals with it’s themes upfront. It packed a huge punch in an emotional sense and I really do admire the filmmakers for going down that path as it really payed off. Things aren’t totally grim though as the movie has plenty of enjoyability to it with a lot the imagination that is put the Moon Kingdom and most of the comedy did land for the most part (although it’s not trying to be a laugh riot). Also there is a nice feeling of hope and satisfaction once we reach the end of it all that makes the admittedly rocky journey worth it in the end.
My favorite aspect of the movie though would have to be the animation as this is just such a colorful film with some eye popping visuals. This should come as no surprise given Keane is a veteran of the medium and there is a lot of style throughout it. He was actually involved with the character designs along with fellow Disney animator, Jin Kim, and I think they both did a nice job in that regard as I really like the designs as they are expressive and memorable showing how good they are at their craft. Another aspect of the animation I like is how there is a nice contrast in settings between the Chinese town where Fei Fei lives which is very much a normal town that is grounded in reality and the Moon Kingdom itself which is full of bright colors and bursting with energy and how certain aspects like the movements and scenery are very well in both areas. But as for the Moon Kingdom itself it is brimming with visual creativity and has a lot of surprisingly out there stuff all around which can make for some fun imagery. I mean is there another movie that you can think of that has sentient mooncakes, flying lions dragon hybrids, talking biker chickens and more? Heck I actually really like it when animated movies are able to throw in crazy things like that and it adds to the energy factor. There are also a number of action scenes that Keane makes really exciting and full of suspense with some chases involving the aforementioned chicken bikers standing out in this regard. Plus given that this is a musical (more on the songs later) there are plenty of solid musical numbers that can be wonderous, fast paced, and even quiet depending on what’s going on in the story and none of it feels jarring or our of place. Adding to that they all have their fair share of stunning visuals, especially one time in the beginning where we see Chang’e’s story told through beautiful hand drawn animation that looks like a water color painting in motion and it’s just fantastic. Same goes for Steven Price’s beautiful score which is able to fit the tone of any given scene and when it hits it hits really hard and can be extremely powerful and it and the animation are a big highlight of the entire movie.
As for the characters I think most of them are pretty good for the most part. Fei Fei, voiced well by Cathy Ang, works well as the main character as she has a strong dedicated personality and while she is not without her flaws there is a rooting interest in wanting her to find Chang’e and grow as the movie goes on and I do think a lot of her character beats landed, even if as mentioned before I wished the writers did a better job setting up the conflict. Same applies to the relationship between her father, Ba Ba (John Cho), and Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh) and I wish they had gotten a bit more screen time to flesh both of them out. I will say though that in the case of Chin (Robert G. Chiu) he was not as annoying as I feared he would be given that he was set up to be the main comic relief of the movie. Sure he starts off a little rough but he never became unbearable, he had plenty of amusing moments, and I appreciated how he maintained a strong brotherly love for Fei Fei and genuinely wanted to help her as I usually don’t see too many sibling characters like this. I will admit though that the movie has an unusually large amount of comic relief animals and while none of them were bad per se I was confused regarding the purpose of some of them. There’s Fei Fei’s rabbit, Bungee, who is adorable and has a symbolic meaning for Fei Fei and she forms a bit of a love interest in the form of the Jade Rabbit on the moon and they get some cute interactions, but then you also have Chin’s frog, the mooncake beings, and the biker chickens who all have their moments even if I do question why the movie has so many of these types of characters when only a couple would have been more than enough. The one who gets the most focus though is arguably Gobi, a glowing green dog voiced by Ken Jeong that we meet halfway through the movie. Like Chin he starts off a bit annoying, but I got used to him and Jeong is admittedly good in the role and even does well in the more dramatic scenes. My favorite character in general though would have to be Chang’e herself. I thought she was the most interesting and I like how the movie delves into her backstory and all of the emotional struggles she is facing due to what happened with her love and how she is trying to see him again. Not to mention Phillipa Soo gives a dazzling performance really capturing the character’s stubborn personality and making great use of her vocal chops when the occasion arises. At the very least there wasn’t a character that I hated and I think for the most part they serve their respective purposes nicely.
Like I mentioned earlier this is a musical and it is important that the songs are able to leave an impact. Fortunately that does turn out to be the case here as I really dug the soundtrack for this movie and thought that each song served it’s purpose effectively. The first song, “On the Moon Above”, does the job in telling the story of Chang’e and is short but successful in it’s intents. After that is “Mooncakes” which is a sweet number that serves as the character introductory song, sets up the status quo and shows the love between Fei Fei and her parents. Then there’s the big motivational number and in “Rocket to the Moon” which I think is really powerful and has a nice build up to it. Some may say that’s the big show stopper and yeah I guess so, but I’d also argue that “Ultraluminary” can fall into that category too as it is a very energetic, K-Pop like song/set pieces that is fast paced and sung wonderfully by Soo. It’s my personal favorite of the movie, although “Rocket to the Moon” comes close. After is “Hey Boy” which is a rap sung by Chang’e, and Chin as they have a ping pong rap battle… Yes it’s insane and out of nowhere but it sure as heck was entertaining to watch unfold. “Wonderful” is a touching little song sung by Gobi and I like how the comic relief gets not a flashy energetic number but rather a quiet little song about his feelings. Finally there is “Yours Forever” and “Love Someone New” which both play during key moments in the third act and are both very powerful songs that add to the moments. As you can see I really do like the music for this movie and it is another stand out aspect of it that can see myself listening to every now and then.
Overall, I thought Over the Moon was a good feature length debut for Glen Keane. I do have a number of problems with it like it’s rough story in the first two thirds, rushed set up, and some underutilized characters, but it also does a lot of things well as it ends on a high note, the messages were handled nicely, the animation is stunning, most of the characters are good, and it’s a really strong musical with very good songs. I’m sure there are a lot of people who will resonate with this movie and it seems like that is the case given what I have heard from others. I may not have been as crazy about it but I am happy others love it and I can see fans of musicals getting a kick out of it. Another solid animated feature from Netflix that shows how much effort they are putting into becoming a powerhouse for the medium. It also serves as a promising start for Keane’s directorial career and I am looking forward to seeing what he decides to take on next as he has shown time and again that he has the talent to make it big.
Rating: B
Please leave your thoughts down below in the comments and see you guys later!
Review Time 