Aladdin or Hidden Figures? Contrary to those who would gleefully ram through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, science and religion are not necessarily incompatible. One can believe evolution is 100% correct and still believe in God without compromising either belief system. OTOH, it’s hard to understand the mind of someone who knows how to build a rocket that can fly to the moon and yet still believes there’s a man in the moon…It’s like finding out Amelia Earhart was a Flat Earther. And that’s where we are for the sporadically adorable and very confused animated feature Over the Moon.
Fei Fei (voice of Cathy Ang) grew up baking and selling mom’s moon cakes. Her role/childhood is not dissimilar to that of another animated Chinese icon, Po (Kung Fu Panda). And like Po, Fei Fei is motherless early in. Over the Moon is a Disney knock-off, not a DreamWorks knockoff, so Fei Fei starts the film
with a mother and loses her right after we grow attached. A few songs later and it’s: “Hey, have we captured this Disney thing or what?”
Four years after mom’s passing, dad has gotten busy and brings home potential new mom and potential new brother. Fei Fei say say nay nay, dig dig? At a family Moon Festival gathering, Fei Fei becomes incensed when told her mother’s favorite legend about Chang’e (the moon goddess) is a myth. So, she does what any sensible pre-teen girl would do: storms off and starts making plans to build a rocketship. Fei Fei is bound and determined to proved the reality of Chang’e Chang’e Chang’e to all those fools.
I’ll give Over the Moon this much: I have never seen even the most wistful of Disney heroines sing about physics. Honestly, I think you can like this film on that count alone – one rarely discovers if a rocket scientist is an alto or a soprano. Or you can like this film for Fei Fei’s would-be step-brother, Chin (Robert G. Chiu), a pint-sized home owner’s insurance claim waiting to happen who often insists upon running through walls…with little success.
It bugs me that a person capable of building an atmosphere-penetrating rocketship does so to look up a myth. I mean, it’s been thousands 
of years … you don’t think Chang’e has moved? And if the goddess hasn’t lef’t a forwarding addres’s, do you really think she wants to be found? Girl, I’m not sure you thought this one through.
As knockoff Disneys go, Over the Moon is even better than a few real Disneys. But it’s a long ride just to say: “Your life has changed, get used to it.” This message was also better done in Abominable, another film about a Chinese girl who takes some unwelcome companions on a long journey. And, if I’m being honest, do we really want Fei Fei to get over her mother so soon? What’s the point of that? The problem is that, yes, you want to see somebody move on after four years, but in a cartoon it’s hard to express a true feeling of time, so it looks like Fei Fei starts the film with a loving mother, but 90 minutes later, she’s ok that mom died. Is that really the message you want to convey to your target audience? So I was 50-50 on this guy, until I noted film has a wonder frog. So I’m tilting thumbs up.
In between topics to croon
Fei Fei waxes myths about la lune
It’s a torrid affair
With a Chinese flair
Watch the chow jump over the moon
Rated PG, 95 Minutes
Director: Glen Keane, John Kahrs
Writer: Audrey Wells, Jennifer Yee McDevitt & Alice Wu
Genre: Science and fiction
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Starry-eyed child explorers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Their parents
