*Premise spoilers.*
While I’d put it a tier below the best of Disney/Pixar’s offerings, this is a nice film, a sweet, inventive contemplation on grief, family, and moving on. Featuring a talented voice cast and some lovely music, Over the Moon brings 21st-century sensibility to timeless mythology in interesting ways.
It’s been four years, but Fei Fei is still feeling the ache of her mother’s death. When she discovers that her father has started seeing someone new, she freaks, afraid that moving forward means forgetting the past. Her thoughts turn to her favorite childhood story, that of the moon goddess Chang’e forever mourning her mortal lover. Convinced that her dad should follow Chang’e’s example, the scientific-minded Fei Fei becomes obsessed with the idea of building a rocket to the moon so she can seek out the goddess herself.
First of all, despite adults’ perennial hang-wringing over what kids can “handle” in their stories, this film is one of countless reminders that kids can and do handle a lot. There are kids who deal with the deaths of parents, with parents dating new people, with the prospect of annoying stepsiblings, and more. They can watch and enjoy movies with heavy/sad/scary/challenging moments, because life can be all those things and stories are a way kids can process some of those feelings.
Fei Fei’s story is sad, but it’s also funny, action-packed, and fantastical. I like that she works so hard and methodically toward such a naïve goal, and that she’s so busy holding tight to the past that she can’t see the possibilities of the future. She’s so wrapped up in her own hurt that it’s tough for her to see how her dad is feeling, to be civil to his new girlfriend or the girlfriend’s young son. Rather than accept that her life is going to change, Fei Fei digs her heels in and clings to science and myth in equal measure.
I like that aspect of it, that the film involves both goddesses and rockets—and that the goddess, after centuries on the moon with only her own creations for company, is styled after a pop diva. It’s a nice blend of modern and traditional, fantastical and practical. I mean, obviously the thought of a kid building an actual rocket to the moon is fantastical in and of itself, but I like that her first thought is to use technology to reach Chang’e, rather than prayer or magic.
Cathy Ang gives a strong performance as the sympathetic but frustrating Fei Fei, and Robert G. Chiu is hilariously endearing as her hyperactive would-be stepbrother Chin. John Cho plays Fei Fei’s dad, while Ruthie Ann Miles (Lady Thiang from the last King and I revival, and she was fantastic in Here Lies Love) plays her mom in the film’s opening scenes and Sandra Oh plays her dad’s new girlfriend. After her turn as the sweet Eliza Hamilton, I was impressed by Phillipa Soo’s attitude and forcefulness as Chang’e. The film also features the vocal talents of Ken Jeong, Margaret Cho, Kimiko Glenn (I’ve seen her in a number of animated projects now, but I know her best as Soso on Orange is the New Black,) and Conrad Ricamora (my beloved Will from Fire Island, and he appeared with Miles in both The King and I and Here Lives Love!)
Warnings
Scary moments for kids, some “don’t try this at home,” and strong thematic elements.
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