Photo courtesy of IndieWire

On Friday, Oct. 23 Netflix released original movie “Over the Moon” as a part of their “Representation Matters” collection. “Over the Moon” follows Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), a young girl who adores her late mother’s Chinese fairytale stories, as she attempts to navigate life without her mother. Years after Fei Fei’s mother passes away, Fei Fei’s father, Ba Ba (John Cho), plans to remarry Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh), giving Fei Fei a new stepbrother named Chin (Robert G. Chiu). Her only hope of keeping together the last of her family is to prove to Ba Ba that the tales of the moon goddess are real so Ba Ba won’t have to remarry. 

Fei Fei’s pet rabbit, Bungee (Edie Ichioka), accompanies Fei Fei on her rocket ship to the moon, to only find out Chin stowed away as an extra. After being pushed toward the moon by Chinese guardian lions, they crash land and are soon on a journey to the city of Lunaria where they meet Chang’e, except she is not the same Chang’e Fei Fei’s mother told her about growing up.

Most of the plot is inspired by real Chinese culture, such as the moon goddess herself, as well as the Chinese Moon Festival, which is a tradition that involves worshiping the moon after a successful harvest. By embedding Chinese culture into the plot, the movie provides a new window of worldly culture for the audience to explore.

Some common recurring themes in the movie include cherishing family and food as a way of life, like when Fei Fei learns how to make moon cakes. In this part of the movie, Fei Fei realizes moon cakes are more than food; they hold precious memories for her and her family. Such themes give off encouraging messages to the audience, especially younger generations. Since Fei Fei lost her mother, the significance of showing how love grows and is never gone is evident, making for another inspirational theme.

Fei Fei is not the only person who lost someone. By helping Chang’e, who went through a loss also, Fei Fei learns the true meaning of moving on but keeping her memories for eternity. These motivational messages are expressed to the audience through Fei Fei and Chang’e’s losses, urging the audience to understand that it is perfectly normal to miss those you care about but moving on is vital.

The movie’s bright colors and songs make it especially engaging and ideal for younger audiences. The soundtrack carries heartfelt positive messages, such as the importance of sharing emotions instead of keeping them bottled up. 

Since the movie’s director, Glen Keane, is a former Disney animator, “Over the Moon” has similar elements to past Disney movies. For example, Chinese culture was integral to the plot, similar to Mexican culture in Pixar’s “Coco.” Not to mention, “Over the Moon” has one very frequently recurring element in Disney movies: the protagonist losing a parent.

Overall, “Over the Moon” sends optimistic messages to its audience while telling an animated, joyful and interesting story. Even though some aspects of the movie were predictable, it was also full of surprises. By offering great animation as well as elements of Chinese culture, “Over the Moon” gives its audience an impressive animated movie that isn’t part of the Disney, DreamWorks or Pixar Animation Studios.