I have to say that I think Netflix’s animated movies are really impressive and that they are holding their own with the likes of Pixar, DreamWorks, and Sony. Over the Moon is the third big Netflix animated movie and it is a well-made and quite deep in places movie that the whole family can watch together.
How to Download Over the Moon
You can download or stream the film from Netflix, using the Netflix App. Click on the Download button at the end of this review. If you like the film, check out also other Netflix animated production, for example, The Willoughbys or The Sea Beast.
The Movie Review
The man directing things is animation legend Glen Keane who worked as an animator on some of Disney’s biggest hits. What is neat about this is that it is the first time Glen Keane has directed a full movie! He does a damn fine job and I think that while the movie is a bit unbalanced, it is a solid full feature directorial debut.
Over the Moon has a mostly Chinese voice cast featuring the likes of John Cho, Ken Jeong, and Sandra Oh to name a few. This along with the focus on Chinese mythology was something I thought was really cool. Young, Cathy Ang who plays the lead character, Fei Fei does a great job of leading the movie.
The movie is about the myth of the moon goddess, Chang’e who is awaiting the arrival of her lover, Houyi. Fei Fei’s mother used to tell her the story of the moon goddess and when she passed away, Fei Fei really held onto this story and it had a very special place in her heart.
Fei Fei’s father completely destroys her world with a big announcement. Years after Fei Fei’s mother’s death, he has moved on and fallen in love with Mrs. Zhong who has a son called, Chin! Fei Fei is devastated by this news and plans to build a rocket ship so that she can fly to the moon, find Chang’e and prove to her dad that the myth is real and hopefully make him remember that he loves her mom and not this new woman.
I thought that the first part of Over the Moon was absolutely fantastic. There is so much depth here and the way it deals with loss and moving on is very well done. The thing is, once Fei Fei gets taken to the moon and finds out that Chang’e is real, but not what she imagined, it kind of goes off track.
I am not saying it is bad or anything like that and the “musical” aspect of the movie is fun and there are some great tunes here. However, I think that once they get to the moon, we get a typical animated movie that feels quite different from how it started. The relationship between Fei Fei and Chin grows as the movie moves on and her trying to move on from the passing of her mother is good. However, I just found myself losing interest as the movie went on.
While I would not say that Over the Moon is one of my favorites of the Netflix Animated movies they have done so far, I did still enjoy it. I just think that it is a movie that has a much, much stronger half than the second half. The musical numbers are neat and there are some fun moments, however, it is at its best when it is dealing with the “real” issues that the movie presents at the start.
