Over the Moon shows how to love

Over the Moon is your basic Disney movie—however, not produced by Disney. 

Over the Moon is an animated movie directed by Glen Keane—a former Disney director—and co-directed by John Kahrs. The movie follows a young girl named Fei Fei who believes in the moon goddess, Chang’e. She had heard the legend of the moon goddess from her mother and believed ever since.

Over the Moon takes place in China and represents the country surprisingly well. It shows many aspects of Chinese culture in Fei Fei’s life. It’s a beautiful setting, and it was shown off incredibly in the screening. 

The message the movie conveys is that even after loss, one can find new loved ones without forgetting the old, and never allow heartbreak to determine the type of person someone is. The message is portrayed very well, and the moon goddess has multiple scenes where the message and plot of the movie shines through.  

Although, I noticed a few characters to be unneeded and bothersome fillers. The main character, Fei Fei, is a smart, young girl mourning the loss of her mother. But instead of helping Fei Fei cope with the loss of her mother, her other family members seemingly do nothing. Additionally, they never try to comfort Fei Fei when she is clearly devastated at the news of her father being remarried on top of her mother’s passing. The family is so unimportant that their names are forgotten right after being said; it was clear they were only there for comic relief. 

The woman Fei Fei’s father was going to marry confused me. The nice lady seemed like she was going to help Fei Fei on her mission to the moon goddess, but it was never said that she actually helps her. The lady ended up leaving me with many unanswered questions. She was also the reason why Fei Fei felt the need to build a rocket and fly to the moon. 

The new soon-to-be stepbrother of Fei Fei seemed like a cute, comic relief—like family—but I was happily surprised when his character came into play with the plot. The little boy was overjoyed at the prospect of a big sister, so he clung to Fei Fei and tried to be the best little brother he could be. Fei Fei found him annoying at first, but soon grew to love him and treat him as her little brother. He helped Fei Fei realize she can let new people into her life. 

Fei Fei, though stubborn to the point of being a tad bit annoying, was a relatable, human-like character. She made mistakes, but seemingly had good reasons for them. Her emotions were shown really well, and she learned her lesson over time, but quickly mended her mistakes. 

I consider the moon goddess a self-centered dictator. Through the movie, we see why she is the way she is, and it ties in with the plot and the message really well. Her character development helped Fei Fei realize her mistakes and what she had to do to stop herself from becoming like the moon goddess.

The plot, characters, death of Fei Fei’s mother, step-mother, and overall theme of Over the Moon reminded me of a Disney movie. In Disney movies, the parents, or more commonly the mother, of the girl protagonist dies, and then their father is remarried, and the young girl gets a step-mother. When I was watching the movie with my family, I was under the impression it was a Disney production, but it turns out Disney had nothing to do with Over the Moon, and in reality, Netflix and Pearl Studio were the ones to produce this riveting film.

Over the Moon was a superb movie that I would recommend watching at least one time.