Mark Reviews Movies: OVER THE MOON (2020)

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 22, 2020

First of all, Over the Moon is a dazzling work of design and animation, bringing the world of reality and its fantastical realm of a moon populated by myths together with equal but distinct vibrancy. Watching the opening act, we take the former world for granted, because the filmmakers replicate it so well.

Once the story arrives on the moon, though, the bright colors and intentionally cartoonish designs of the assorted sights and creatures there give us a deeper appreciation for just how well the backdrops of a small Chinese town and the surface of the moon have been imitated. There's a moment in which a toddler-sized, lime-green glowworm becomes stuck to a lunar rover, and by way of the contrasting styles, the little vehicle seems about as real as actual footage of one.

Photorealism in animation, of course, isn't necessarily an objective standard. Animated media would become dull and tedious, losing its unique appeal of near-infinite possibility, if such a goal became successful and the universal standard. We watch and appreciate animation because no two examples are completely alike, because the medium can show us things that only seem possible within one's imagination, and because there is no real limit to what it can show and how it shows us those things.

The key point isn't that the artists, working with computers, capture the real world so accurately. It's that they do so with a purpose in mind: to emphasize just how different and spectacular the film's fantasy realm is. The juxtaposition works because the distinction is so obviously jarring.

The whole of the film, directed by Glen Keane (a long-time animator in the traditional, hand-drawn fashion and recent maker of animated shorts, making his feature debut), is one of contrasts, really. Against the backdrop of this bright and colorful fantasy world on the moon, there's a story about grief at its heart.

In a prologue, young Fei Fei (voice of Cathy Ang) lives a happy life with her father (voice of John Cho) and mother (voice of Ruthie Ann Miles), who run a bakery in town. The mother tells the story of the moon goddess, who was once a woman in love with a heroic archer. That tale unfolds on the mother's silk scarf in rough but striking hand-drawn animation, giving us a brief vision of Keane's plan for melding visual styles in the near future. Basically, the woman was given a chance at immortality in the form of a pill. She took one, sending her to the moon, and saved another for her one, true love, whose fate became sealed on Earth.

Fei Fei's mother becomes ill and dies. Four years later and still in mourning, the girl discovers that her father is planning to re-marry—that she will have a stepmother in Mrs. Zhong (voice of Sandra Oh) and a hyperactive stepbrother in Chin (voice of Robert G. Chiu). This will not stand. Hoping to prove to her father that the moon goddess and her story of remaining devoted to one's true love are true, Fei Fei comes up with a plan to travel to the moon.

This begins as science-fiction, with Fei Fei planning, modeling, and finally building a spaceship, set to one of the film's many songs, which move between traditional Broadway fare and contemporary pop. They're not particularly catchy (many of them are loaded with lyrics that move the plot forward), but in the moment, they get the job done with occasional gusto. Anyway, Fei Fei's ship finally succeeds, but mid-flight, with her pet bunny coming along for the trip, she discovers a couple of stowaways: Chin and his pet frog.

From here, the film veers sharply into fantasy and becomes a constant deluge of imaginative and lively imagery. Rescued from a crash landing by flying lions, the group is brought to the dark side of the moon, illuminated by the glow of a towering castle and assorted shapes orbiting it. Upon getting closer, we note how Keane and his animation team sharpen the lines, flatten the depth, and employ more solid colors within these shapes. They're created digitally, obviously, but the effect gives these images and, indeed, the rest of the creatures on the moon an almost hand-drawn look and feel.

The rest of the story involves Fei Fei trying to get evidence that the moon goddess Chang'e (voice of Phillipa Soo)—who rules over her kingdom like a pop star—exists and the goddess attempting to revive her lost love, using an item that Fei Fei unknowingly brought with her. The plot feels more like a checklist of necessary elements (a quest, a series of chases and obstacles, a sidekick in the form of an "annoying creature" and voiced by Ken Jeong, and some business for Chin, who battles the goddess in a game of zero-gravity table tennis, and the pet rabbit to do) than a fully formed story, but the underlying (Most of Chang'e's entourage, we learn, is made up of her tears brought to life) and overt ideas about grief, processing loss, and trying to find a reason to move forward provide the story (written by the late screenwriter Audrey Wells) with a sincere, emotional foundation.

Thankfully, the tale, as unfocused as it sometimes seems, does serve as more than just an excuse to show off the film's considerable imagery. Over the Moon has a heart, wounded but hopeful, but its lasting impact is the film's showcase of a fantastical world, wonderful and luminous.

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