Anthomation Assesses Over the Moon

Howdy guys, Anthomation here. Today I shall review the latest animated feature film to be released on Netflix, Over the Moon (2020)

Before the review continues, I would like to point out that I will be reviewing the latest animated films right after they are released. Anyway, Over the Moon is a 2020 animated film co-produced in the US and China. It was produced by Netflix Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Pearl Studio, who had previously co-produced Abominable (2019) with DreamWorks Animation. It was directed by Glen Keane, who was previously an animator at Disney animation. The film was first shown at the Montclair Film Festival on October 17, 2020, followed by its Netflix and select theaters release on October 23.

When Fei Fei (voice of Cathy Ang) was a young girl, her now-deceased mother told her the story of Chang’e, a moon goddess of Chinese mythology who is waiting on the moon for her one and only true love. Her friends and family think it’s just a silly myth, so the 13-year-old girl, who’s a STEM-proficient student, decides to build a rocketship herself so she can find Chang’e and prove the story is true.

When watching this film and knowing that it was directed by someone who had previously worked at Disney, it made total sense that the story would resemble many of the aesthetics of a typical Disney flick. You have the protagonist who loses a loved one, has a change of mood, surrounded by animal sidekicks/comedy reliefs and has to go on an astounding journey to eventually learn a life lesson. It’s the type of movie that has to check a bunch of boxes to appeal to certain demographics. Oh and I forgot that this is also a musical. If I’m going to be totally honest, the songs here were not that bad. Infact, I thought they added to the story pretty well and were fun to listen to. All in all, the songs were not enough to redeem a story that was flat to being with. 

The animation is by far the best part of this movie, it’s colorful, fluid, and a joy to look at. When our main character finally reaches the moon, you would expect to see a lot of blacks and greys, but instead it looks like we entered into the World of Color show from Disneyland. The character designs definitely resemble those of films like Moana (2016) and Big Hero 6 (2014), but still holds up well on its own. The backgrounds look appealing and there aren’t any overwhelming issues with the shots and angles used to display the film. 

The best way to describe the characters here are that they are hit and miss. There’s Fei Fei, the 14-year-old protagonist of the film who believes in Chang’e ever since the loss of her mother and builds a rocket to travel to the moon to prove it. She is overall a routable character, but also falls into the same trap as so many other protagonists of having to go on some adventure just to learn something about herself. There’s Chin, Mrs Zhong’s 8-year-old son and Fei Fei’s stepbrother. Chang’e, the mythical Moon goddess who yearns to be with her true love Houyi again. After looking it up, it was confirmed that Chang’e is based on true Chinese lore. Then there is Gobi (voiced by Ken Jeong), a pangolin and former royal advisor who was exiled 1000 years ago. Just like Chin, he can’t decide whether he wants to be the comedy relief or a failed attempt at an enduring character. This film also tries to squeeze in a lot of animal sidekicks. Seriously, the Rankin/Bass version of The King and I (1999) had less of these characters than this film. 

With a script that settles for diet Disney, songs that good but not good enough to truly stand out, animation that is well done but can only do so much for the rest of the people, and characters that a mix bag to be easily forgotten, Over the Moon is a film that isn’t bad but can’t make a name for itself and easily falls in with the rest of the crowd. Considering that there haven’t been a lot of animated films to enter the US market, this film might stay relevant for a little while but that is best I can say about it.

Score:

6/10