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Review: Over the Moon (2020)
A pretty simple story. I won’t lie I expected it to be kind of bland but it ended up being decent. It was an easy watch for me as an adult.
Spoilers.
Story
Feifei was a girl who grew up loving the legend of Chang’e (the version that her mother told her). Her mother passed away from illness, and years later, her father fell into another relationship. Feifei was very against the relationship, and she decided she’d go to the moon to see Chang’e to prove the importance of true and forever love to her father.
Feifei built a spaceship to go to the moon with her rabbit Bungee. Her to-be stepbrother Chin hid in the spaceship so they ended up crash landing on the moon together. On the moon, Chang’e wanted a gift. After a tussle, Feifei realized the gift was a half of an amulet that her to-be stepmother Mrs. Zhong had hidden in a mooncake she’d gifted to her. Mrs. Zhong had mentioned that her family was supposedly descended from Hou Yi so presumably the half of the amulet was to be united with Chang’e’s half.
When the two pieces were united, Chang’e was reunited with Hou Yi, but only briefly, because he was dead and he would always be dead. His parting wish was for Chang’e to be able to move on and live her life, and to trust that even without him by her side, their love would be forever. Chang’e took that lesson, and she passed it on to Feifei, who was missing her mom and wasn’t able to move on. Not until she realized that she had so much love to give and it was a pity to be so filled with hate.
Feifei’s rabbit Bungee fell in love with the Jade Rabbit on the moon and wanted to stay, so Feifei decided to let her stay, because she knew that would not negate their years of love. As she went home, Feifei realized that she didn’t need her photo with Chang’e anymore, because she didn’t need to tell her dad to remember her mom anymore, because she realized she did have capacity to welcome new family.
The movie ended with a happy family gathering at the Moon Festival. Feifei called Mrs. Zhong A-yi (“Auntie”), and played with Chin. She had a quiet moment with her father where they recounted old memories they had with Feifei’s mother. And in general Feifei was just more accepting of the fact that Mrs. Zhong was not replacing her mother, and that family is made.
I was actually a little surprised that this movie was meant to be set in actual China as opposed to diaspora. We saw various aspects of culture in mainland China, including Feifei living in Zhujiajiao, the people dancing in the town square, workers building the high speed maglev train. I wouldn’t say it was totally accurate, but I appreciate some of it.
The story again was very simple, but maybe that’s all you need for a kids’ movie. It was just using a legend that Feifei loved to show her how to work through a tough part of her life.
Production
To be honest I’m not really a big fan of the 3d animation style in general. But again I appreciate the attempt at recognizable aspects of Chinese culture. I think the reason why I was skeptical of this movie was that I thought it’d try too hard to appeal to Asian culture and would fall flat, but I think it managed to put on a twist so that it didn’t rely too heavily. In particular, the moon setting was modernized. The family home setting did feel familiar, but because it was a modern setting, I got the sense that they could get consultation for it to feel more accurate.
Chang’e as a pop star was probably the draw of the movie. Wikipedia tells me that Guo Pei designed the costumes which was pretty cool and you could absolutely tell.
Characters
Feifei was a thirteen year old girl who was smart and lively but because of her headstrong nature, she was very against unfamiliar change, which included her father being in love with someone other than her mother. She went so far as to go to the moon to prove to her father that true love trumped all, but in the process she learned from her hero Chang’e that love is made and given, and that it is far more flexible and fluid than she thought. Just because she loved her mother and missed her didn’t mean that she couldn’t welcome Mrs. Zhong into her life. Not as a mother, but at least as someone who made her father less lonely. She could welcome Chin in her life, as someone who looked up to her.
Chin was Feifei’s younger stepbrother. He was what you’d call a typical annoying younger brother, but we could clearly see that he just wanted attention from Feifei. When they were separated on the moon, he really wanted to help her so that she would like him. And in the process of being apart, when Gobi pointed out that it was because of Chin that Feifei had been able to solve some problems, Feifei realized that maybe she should have appreciated Chin more than she had.
Chang’e was a bit of a diva, not quite how Feifei expected. Gobi explained that after Hou Yi died, she’d become this way, her heart hard and closed. We saw that she was essentially still stuck on Hou Yi, always wishing for him to be back by her side, but what’s done was done, and Hou Yi could not be resurrected. Instead, she had to learn to live while still loving others.
Themes
The big major theme here was moving on, and the idea that love doesn’t replace another love. Just because her father remarried didn’t mean that the memory of Feifei’s mother would be erased and they’d be forbidden to speak of it. We see that Feifei isn’t ready to call Mrs. Zhong “mom,” but she still called her Auntie. And that’s a perfectly valid type of relationship.
Overall
This was a decent movie. Again, I had expected it to be kind of boring but it was alright.
Spoilers.
Story
Feifei was a girl who grew up loving the legend of Chang’e (the version that her mother told her). Her mother passed away from illness, and years later, her father fell into another relationship. Feifei was very against the relationship, and she decided she’d go to the moon to see Chang’e to prove the importance of true and forever love to her father.
Feifei built a spaceship to go to the moon with her rabbit Bungee. Her to-be stepbrother Chin hid in the spaceship so they ended up crash landing on the moon together. On the moon, Chang’e wanted a gift. After a tussle, Feifei realized the gift was a half of an amulet that her to-be stepmother Mrs. Zhong had hidden in a mooncake she’d gifted to her. Mrs. Zhong had mentioned that her family was supposedly descended from Hou Yi so presumably the half of the amulet was to be united with Chang’e’s half.
When the two pieces were united, Chang’e was reunited with Hou Yi, but only briefly, because he was dead and he would always be dead. His parting wish was for Chang’e to be able to move on and live her life, and to trust that even without him by her side, their love would be forever. Chang’e took that lesson, and she passed it on to Feifei, who was missing her mom and wasn’t able to move on. Not until she realized that she had so much love to give and it was a pity to be so filled with hate.
Feifei’s rabbit Bungee fell in love with the Jade Rabbit on the moon and wanted to stay, so Feifei decided to let her stay, because she knew that would not negate their years of love. As she went home, Feifei realized that she didn’t need her photo with Chang’e anymore, because she didn’t need to tell her dad to remember her mom anymore, because she realized she did have capacity to welcome new family.
The movie ended with a happy family gathering at the Moon Festival. Feifei called Mrs. Zhong A-yi (“Auntie”), and played with Chin. She had a quiet moment with her father where they recounted old memories they had with Feifei’s mother. And in general Feifei was just more accepting of the fact that Mrs. Zhong was not replacing her mother, and that family is made.
I was actually a little surprised that this movie was meant to be set in actual China as opposed to diaspora. We saw various aspects of culture in mainland China, including Feifei living in Zhujiajiao, the people dancing in the town square, workers building the high speed maglev train. I wouldn’t say it was totally accurate, but I appreciate some of it.
The story again was very simple, but maybe that’s all you need for a kids’ movie. It was just using a legend that Feifei loved to show her how to work through a tough part of her life.
Production
To be honest I’m not really a big fan of the 3d animation style in general. But again I appreciate the attempt at recognizable aspects of Chinese culture. I think the reason why I was skeptical of this movie was that I thought it’d try too hard to appeal to Asian culture and would fall flat, but I think it managed to put on a twist so that it didn’t rely too heavily. In particular, the moon setting was modernized. The family home setting did feel familiar, but because it was a modern setting, I got the sense that they could get consultation for it to feel more accurate.
Chang’e as a pop star was probably the draw of the movie. Wikipedia tells me that Guo Pei designed the costumes which was pretty cool and you could absolutely tell.
Characters
Feifei was a thirteen year old girl who was smart and lively but because of her headstrong nature, she was very against unfamiliar change, which included her father being in love with someone other than her mother. She went so far as to go to the moon to prove to her father that true love trumped all, but in the process she learned from her hero Chang’e that love is made and given, and that it is far more flexible and fluid than she thought. Just because she loved her mother and missed her didn’t mean that she couldn’t welcome Mrs. Zhong into her life. Not as a mother, but at least as someone who made her father less lonely. She could welcome Chin in her life, as someone who looked up to her.
Chin was Feifei’s younger stepbrother. He was what you’d call a typical annoying younger brother, but we could clearly see that he just wanted attention from Feifei. When they were separated on the moon, he really wanted to help her so that she would like him. And in the process of being apart, when Gobi pointed out that it was because of Chin that Feifei had been able to solve some problems, Feifei realized that maybe she should have appreciated Chin more than she had.
Chang’e was a bit of a diva, not quite how Feifei expected. Gobi explained that after Hou Yi died, she’d become this way, her heart hard and closed. We saw that she was essentially still stuck on Hou Yi, always wishing for him to be back by her side, but what’s done was done, and Hou Yi could not be resurrected. Instead, she had to learn to live while still loving others.
Themes
The big major theme here was moving on, and the idea that love doesn’t replace another love. Just because her father remarried didn’t mean that the memory of Feifei’s mother would be erased and they’d be forbidden to speak of it. We see that Feifei isn’t ready to call Mrs. Zhong “mom,” but she still called her Auntie. And that’s a perfectly valid type of relationship.
Overall
This was a decent movie. Again, I had expected it to be kind of boring but it was alright.