If you aren’t aware of it already, a collaboration between the Chinese production film company Pearl Studio and Netflix Animation recently came out. On October 23rd, 2020, the American-Chinese animated film “Over the Moon” was released on Netflix and select theatres in the United States. When I first got notified of this movie being released, I was very surprised to see that the entire voice cast was made up entirely of Asian actors and voice actors. This was the first time I’ve seen this much Asian and Asian-American representation in a major animated film.
The story itself is something I’m sure a lot of other fellow Chinese and Chinese Americans have been told time and time again: Chang’e being the Chinese goddess of the moon who is forced to spend eternity alone after being coerced into drinking an immortality elixir. There are many different versions of this story: some with Chang’e’s lover Houyi being a benevolent ruler who she loves and misses. Others depict Houyi being cruel to her and Chang’e choosing to drink the elixir herself to escape him so he can never follow her. The main protagonist, Fei Fei, is a 14 year old child genius living in China who decides to build a rocket to find her.
I came into watching the movie with little to no knowledge of the actual plot besides it somehow including aspects of Chang’e. I quickly became aware that it was a musical and I was intrigued to see if they would do any of the singing in Mandarin since the legend itself is Chinese.
Within the opening scene itself, I could tell just how much emphasis they put on making sure the representation of Chinese culture was emphasized. The setting of the beautiful Chinese village and the family mooncake store really made me feel like I was watching an Eastern film. The way that the protagonist grew up loving the legend of Chang’e due to her late mother’s storytelling was very representative of how I grew up being told different stories about why my family celebrated different holidays like August Moon. Her struggle with her mother’s death and her struggle to see her father fall for someone else is definitely relatable to many people. Trying to move on after a loved one’s passing is extremely difficult especially if you’re at a young age.
Chin, Fei Fei’s eventual step-brother, quickly became my favorite character just by how realistic he is to an 8 year old boy who you can’t help but love no matter how annoying he is. The whole him knowing they’re going to be siblings and Fei Fei not wanting to acknowledge it made for a very interesting dynamic for the movie. Honestly, there was no way anyone could have made it through the movie without wanting him to be your own little brother and hear his catchphrase “no barriers.” Gobi is another character that added a bit of humor to the film. Played appropriately by Ken Jeong, this green glow-up pangolin is lovable and talkative, who sometimes can’t help but say the wrong thing.
The film is undeniably gorgeous. From the vivid and lifelike details of mooncake preparation to the brilliance and dazzle of Lunaria, the movie is filled with color and life. Everything sort of has a glow to it, and the amazing picture coupled with the soundtrack made for a very immersive experience. I’m not usually a huge fan of musicals as sometimes I feel they become kind of a distraction from the plot of the movie, but I like how they utilized different genres and languages all throughout. They even had Kyle Hanagami choreograph for Chang’e’s opening song, which I thought was just icing on the cake.
What really struck me when I look more in depth at the film’s production was that the screenwriter Audrey Wells meant the film to be a sort of letter to her husband and daughter to move on after her death. At the time of writing, Wells was battling cancer and knew she would most likely not make it. The story’s touching message about how to move on after loss really resonated with me. The way the film handled Chang’e doing everything she could to see Houyi again, and him ending up just telling her to move one was undeniably a tear-jerker. Fei Fei trying to console Chang’e but ending up realizing she too is having trouble moving on was a brilliant way to show the connection between them. It’s a very difficult message for kids to have to understand, but the way they showed that love exists forever, even after a passing, was healing.
Overall, I enjoyed watching the movie with my roommates and we even got a few good laughs throughout it. Mostly, I definitely got a taste of what good Asian representation could be and I’m excited to see what Netflix has in store next.
