Over The Moon Review

Source: Over the Moon (2020) (imdb.com)

What do you do on a Monday night when you've had a car crash of a day? Put on Your Netflix of course. 

Nothing like a nice film to make you feel a bit better. Maybe get you into a better spirit.... 

AND it's now December!!!! 🎄🎅

HANG ON A MINUTE!!!! 

Before we officially bring out the C-word (no not Covid, the much nicer one!!), I have one last thing to talk about. One which I have been putting on the back burner until I have got my 3-in-a-row weekend out of the way. 

Last night, I jumped Over The Moon! 

No, this is not a reference to Maureen's performance number in RENT, but a new animated musical film made by Pearl Studio and Netflix Animations directed by Glen Keane. If his name sounds familiar, Keane has been an animator for over 40 years, many of them at Disney: Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas - he animated them all! 

With Keane at the helm, you know the animation on this is going to be good, but you don't fully realise how good until you watch it, especially when Fei Fei, Bungee and Chin arrive on the moon. The colour pops brighter through the screen than my GCSE notes covered in highlighter. It's also where the originality of the film shines, to the backgrounds to character designs of the various creatures. Even when on planet Earth, you can tell that the team have done their research into small Chinese towns!

But it doesn't just look beautiful. In the film, we follow Fei Fei, a girl who loses her Mother at a young age. For a while it has been Fei Fei, her Father and her pet rabbit Bungee - and it's been fine.... until Fei Fei realises Father's going to be re-married and she will get an annoying stepbrother in the process. 

Not wanting things to change, Fei Fei does what any girl does - build a rocket and go to the moon in order to get a picture with Moon Goddess Chang'e in the hope that it will remind Father of Mother again. 

Grief and letting go is a very hard thing to talk about in a family film, but just like Big Hero 6 does, Over The Moon tells it with a great sensitivity and care, and though it may look bright and happy, is not afraid to discuss the darker issues surrounding grief. It hits harder when you realise that this was to be a memento from writer Audrey Wells to her family, as she was suffering from terminal cancer. The film is dedicated to her memory. 

Fei Fei is a wonderful smart girl who you just want to give a hug to. Cathy Ang does an amazing performance. Oh and apparently did her solo Rocket To The Moon in just one take!!

While we are on songs, have a listen to Ultraluminary ..... does Chang'e sound familiar? 

Yes that IS the voice of Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) as a Moon Goddess! And she's incredible! 

The cast is full of Asian-American talent - no whitewashing here! Names to look out for are Ken Jeong as moon-dog Gobi (bit annoying for the adults but the kids will love him), Tony-winner Ruthie Ann Miles (The King and I) as Mother and Killing Eve's Sandra Oh as Mrs Zhong. 

As you will have heard from Miss Soo, Over The Moon's songs reference a lot of styles, from classic Broadway ballads, to traditional Chinese music to K-Pop sounds - not like a lot of other films you've heard.

If like me you've left it a little, I urge you now to give Over The Moon a shot. Yes it is now December so there is now no excuse to have a certain type of film coming in thick and fast, but if you want something for the family that's a.... change of pace shall we say to all the classics (and new ones) coming up.... than Over The Moon is a fantastic choice.  

Ok ok, NOW we can say it. IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!🎄🎅

  

Source: will ferrell christmas GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY