By Tatsuya King
Over the Moon, produced by Pearl Studio, is an attempt at creating a fun and interesting children’s movie that can be enjoyed by older audiences as well. While the movie does provide much needed Asian representation in children’s films, I am not sure this is the representation I would have asked for. The story follows a young Chinese girl who’s obsessive belief in a myth, combined with the loss of her mother, pushes her to build a rocketship to the moon. The main character, Fei Fei, is played by Cathy Ang. She is accompanied by Robert G. Qiu as Chin, Phillipa Soo as Chang’e, and Ken Jeong as Gobi. Over the Moon is also a musical, boasting a hefty nine songs, of which I can remember none. Despite being in the same genre as classics like Aladdin, The Jungle Book, and The Little Mermaid, this film still falls into the all too familiar trap of generic and forgettable Broadway-style songs.
At the beginning of the film, viewers are introduced to Fei Fei and her family. She is living happily with her two normal parents in a very typical family structure. In common kids movie fashion, this happiness cannot last, and Fei Fei’s beloved mother becomes seriously sick, eventually leaving Fei Fei and her dad forever. Despite the extreme oversaturation of the ‘ideal family broken up by a parent’s death’ trope, this moment is still somewhat sweet. Before leaving, however, Fei Fei’s mother leaves a few notable things for her daughter, as well as for the viewers of the film. The first thing is a bunny, likely meant to be a symbol of the mother’s soul, and the second is an old Chinese tale that drives the rest of the plot. This tale, the tale of Chang’e, is based on a very real and culturally important Chinese myth. Even though this tale has obvious significance to the plot of this movie, it is given a mere 35 second montage and a few throwaway lines that gloss over almost all of the context and meaning from the story, boiling it down to an incredibly westernized anecdote of a beautiful girl separated from her hot husband. Even so, Fei Fei ends up idolizing Chang’e and believing in her existence as a way to cope with the loss of her mother.
The main conflict in this story is introduced after a 4 year time skip when Fei Fei is introduced to her dad’s new girlfriend, immediately deciding that change is bad, developing a plot to break them up. To do this, Fei Fei decides that her father must be reminded of true love, as seen in the story of Chang’e, ultimately building a bunny themed rocket ship to the moon to prove her idol’s existence. Unfortunately, this rocket ship fails due to Fei Fei’s incredibly precise calculations that could not account for the added weight of her younger step brother who snuck on. Luckily, when things take a turn for the worse, magic space powers save Fei Fei and her companions. Rather than through the competence and talent of a strong lead character, the team is saved by a holy beam of light that brings them straight to their destination. On the moon, Fei Fei, Chin, and the pet bunny make their way to the capital city, ruled by a God-like tyrant: Chang’e.
In this moon city, Fei Fei finally meets her long time idol. In another twist, however, Chang’e is revealed to be a narcissistic music meister who’s only redeeming quality at this point is her vast amount of magical costume changes, easily crushing Frozen 2 in a battle of mid dance dress swaps. While Fei Fei is on the moon to get proof of Chang’e existing, Chang’e wants Fei Fei to find a mysterious ‘gift’, sending her completely oblivious on a wild hunt for an unknown item. In this middle section of the film, many forgettable things happen. Fei Fei finds the secret gift as well as a bubbly companion who even Ken Jeong’s voice acting couldn’t make me like – Chin plays ping pong with Chang’e during the worst rap sequence any kids movie has ever attempted – and Fei Fei’s bunny just happens to fall in love with the one other rabbit shaped animal on the moon. I could go into more detail about these scenes but the fact that I was unconscious during my first watch-through of this section should be evidence that I don’t want to talk about it. During this period it is also revealed that Chang’e isn’t just a baddie, she also has feelings. Years away from her ‘one true love’ has done damage to her and she hasn’t been able to let it go.
When Fei Fei returns with the ‘gift’, viewers learn that the gift actually gives Chang’e the chance to reunite with her lost love. At this point, both Chang’e and Fei Fei seem to be happy, with Chang’e being reunited with her husband, and Fei Fei having the photo that would prove Chang’e’s existence to her father. When Chang’e finally meets her husband however, it is revealed that she can only see him for a short time before he is whisked away again. This causes Chang’e to go into a state of extreme sadness, secluding herself from the others. When Fei Fei takes it upon herself to go help Chang’e, she too succumbs to sadness after being reminded that her mother is indeed gone. In a wacky reversal of roles, the forever heartbroken Chang’e sings to Fei Fei a song about moving on. Just like in real life, this song and a few kind words from her friends immediately cures Fei Fei’s depression and grief over her mothers death. Right after this, Fei Fei spits back the exact advice Chang’e just gave, right back to the sad Chang’e, curing her depression instantly as well. When Fei Fei finally returns home, she comes back to a perfect family, step-mom and all. The movie ends with all the characters content as can be, presumably happily ever after.
At the end of the day, Over the Moon is indeed a movie. While it is a movie, it is more specifically a kids movie and likely not meant to be judged on the same level as more mature films. Even so, being a movie that is targeted toward a more easily impressed audience is no excuse for being terrible. My final score is a low 6 out of 49, the 6 points coming from the attempt at Asian representation as well as the inclusion of Ken Jeong, even if he did play the worst character.