Alkony logo

If you'd like to be surprised by the Over the Moon film, I don't recommend you to watch trailer 1 beyond 0:40, as it starts to give away too much of the plot. Watching after 0:55 spoils the surprise at the 30th minute of the film. If you watch that, you might as well skip the first 30 minutes.

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Watch trailer 2 on YouTube
Watch trailer 2 in: English - Hindi - Italian - Portuguese (Brazilian)
Watch trailer 1 in: English - Hindi - Italian - Portuguese (Brazilian)
video © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

Article updated: 2023.07.05

The Over the Moon (2020) is an animated modern fantasy musical film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.

Product: Over the Moon, movie (2020)

Original title: Over the Moon

Series: -

Setting: fantasy Earth

Product type: Film, Genre: animated modern fantasy musical, Style: animated, modern fantasy, musical

Release: Premiere: 2020.10.17 (Montclair Film Festival), Release: 2020.10.23

Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them

Watched: very recent (2021.10), first time

Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points)

* * *

This is my review of Over the Moon, an animated modern fantasy musical movie from 2020. It's about a girl who wants to reach the Moon, to meet the Moon goddess.. The Over the Moon film is interesting, I recommend it to fans of animated kids movies.

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Film review by KadmonOver the Moon, movie (2020)
image © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

* * *

Review (spoiler-free) - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

A friend of mine recommended me to watch Over the Moon, and sent me the link to the trailer. I watched that, got interested, and when I had the chance, I watched it.

The Over the Moon movie is about a girl who wants to reach the Moon, to meet the Moon goddess.

The story has a good setup, and a slightly interesting main part. There's a distinct change at 30 minutes in both the mood and visual style. There is a character arc for the main character. I didn't find logical problems. I liked it that the story was built on Chinese mythology.

The cinematography is good. The story is interesting visually. The animation is very good.

The characters are okay, we get enough background information to understand their actions.

The music (by Steven Price) is okay. The musical parts are average.

Over the Moon is a watchable animated modern fantasy musical, I think fans of the genre might enjoy it.

My experience

I was mostly satisfied with Over the Moon (2020).

Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points). Over the Moon is a watchable film, but there's nothing especially unique or interesting in it.

Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points). Over the Moon is okay.

Rewatchability: High. I think if you liked it for the first time, it's for the theme and the visuals.

Chance of watching it again: Unlikely. Now that I know the story, there's probably no need to watch it again.

Chance of watching a sequel: High. I'd sure watch it.

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Film review by KadmonOver the Moon, movie (2020)
image © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

Will you enjoy this?

If you like fantasy films, you might be interested in this.

If you like Spelljammer, this movie is for you.

If you like animated films, you might be interested in this. The animation looks good.

If you prefer visuals over story, you could skip the beginning, and fast forward to 30 minutes.

If you hate musical movies, Over the Moon is probably not for you, although there are not many songs in it.

If you dislike kids movies, you could still start to watch Over the Moon, as the beginning 30 minutes is good enough.

Watching for plot points

I don't think this movie is worth watching for plot points.

* * *

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Film review by KadmonOver the Moon, movie (2020)
image © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

Review with spoilers - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

I mostly liked the Over the Moon movie.

Cover

The cover of the movie already spoils the story.

The trailer

The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the first 30 minutes of the movie.

If you'd like to be surprised by the film, I don't recommend you to watch the first trailer beyond 1:53, as it starts to give away too much of the plot. Watch it beyond 2:14 only if you don't mind heavy spoilers, because it basically gives a summary of the first part of the film. Watching after 2:27 spoils the surprise at the 30th minute of the film. If you watch that, you might as well skip the first 30 minutes.

If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Over the Moon film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it could make the first 30 minutes unneccessary.

Promise of the first scene

A girl is being told the story of the Moon goddess. Then her mother dies. From this point, the story could have gone anywhere, but as I watched the trailer, I knew exactly where will it go.

Execution: This was a good setup for the rest of the story.

Plot summary / Synopsis

There's a little girl (Fei Fei), living with her parents. Her mother tells her stories about the Moon goddess (Chang'e), who got immortal, but got stuck on the Moon, while her lover (Houyi) stayed on Earth, so they miss each other. The mother of the girl dies.

A few years later the father meets a new woman (Ms. Zhong), and introduces her to the girl, but they didn't get along. Worse yet, the new woman has an annoying boy (Chin). The girl decides to go to the Moon, to convince her father that the Moon goddess is real, and maybe that way he would be content with the memory of her mother.

After a long study and working, she builds a rocket, and she is able to get the rocket off the ground, but she is unable to leave the atmosphere, so the rocket falls down.

(After this moment, it's up to the interpretation of the viewer, whether what happens is real, or her vivid imagination while being oxygen-deprived, or staying in coma for a while...)

Luckily winged space lions come to the rescue and bring the rocket to the Moon. The annoying boy was also on board as a stowaway. They meet the Moon goddess, who is also a pop singer. She demands the gift, but they don't know what is she talking about. The Moon goddess announces a competition, that whoever finds the gift, will get one wish fulfilled. The inhabitants start looking around, and the girl bands up with a team of rude biker chikens, who try to trick her. When she finds the gift (a medal she got from the woman, who is a relative of the lover of the Moon goddess), she brings it to the Moon goddess, so she is able to summon the ghost of his lover, but he tells her that she should forget him, and get on with her life. This upsets the Moon goddess, but the girl cheers her up. The girl and the boy are sent back to Earth.

A while later we see that the girl and the new woman are reconciled, and they live together happily.

The setting

The setting looks like contemporary Earth, but there are fantasy some elements to it. Or the girl had a very vivid hallucination.

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Film review by KadmonOver the Moon, movie (2020)
image © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

The fantasy space

Chang'e, the Moon goddess is living on the Moon. The Jade Rabbit creates the magic to make her tears into creatures of light. These creatures are the inhabitants of the Moon.

The winged lions serve Chang'e.

There's also a Space Dog, that eats things left in space, for example, abandoned rockets.

The message of the story

Forget the worries of the past, believe that there will be a brighter future.

The structure of the story

The scenes of the Over the Moon film are played in sequence, following the same storyline. There are a couple of stories told during the movie. The viewpoint character is the girl. It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - beginning, action, resolution.

Fan-service

There's a scene that recalls a famous scene from Le Voyage dans la Lune / A Trip to the Moon (1902), a black and white movie about the Moon landing.

Chinese tradition says that the Moon looks like either a rabbit or a frog - both of the animals are featured as pets, but there's plenty of other imagery based on frogs and rabbits through the film.

* * *

Things I liked

* * *

How does it compare to the other works of the creators?

I haven't seen any other works of the writers (Audrey Wells, Jennifer Yee McDevitt, Alice Wu) or the directors (Glen Keane, John Kahrs).

* * *

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Film review by KadmonOver the Moon, movie (2020)
image © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

Analysis of the story - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

I mostly liked the story, I didn't find problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Over the Moon.

Problematic elements

Vain diva: I didn't like it that the multiple thousand year old Moon goddess is handled like a modern instagram celebrity.

Evil chicken: I didn't particularly like the inclusion of rude and antagonistic characters among the cute little fellows.

Show, don't tell: It would have been more efficient if the main message would have been shown to us. For example, if the Moon goddess would have been over the loss of her former lover, and told the girl that it's okay to get over the death of a loved one.

Unanswered questions

 

* * *

Possibilities of improvement

 

How it could have been better?

 

* * *

Over the Moon, movie (2020) - Film review by KadmonOver the Moon, movie (2020)
image © Netflix & Shanghai Pearl Studio Film and Television Technology

Uses for the film - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

Plot

 

Scenes

 

Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas

 

Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas

 

Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)

 

 

* * *

Similar stories - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

Novels

Charles Dodgson (as Lewis Carroll): Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865): A girl gets in a strange world (Wonderland), before returning home.

C. S. Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet (1938): A man gets in a strange world (Malacandra, a fantasy Mars) in a spaceship, before returning home.

L. Frank Baum: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900): A girl gets in a strange world (the Land of Oz), before returning home.

Paul B. Thompson & Tonya R. Carter: Dragonlance Preludes vol. 1 - Darkness and Light (1989): A pair get in a strange world (Lunitari, a fantasy moon) in a spaceship, before returning home.

Rudolf Erich Raspe: Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia (1785): Among other adventures, a man gets in a strange world (a fantasy Moon) in a hot air balloon, before returning home.

Movies

Alice in Wonderland (1951): A girl gets in a strange world, before returning home. Based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Le secret des sélénites / The Secret of the Selenites (1984): A group of people get in a strange world (a fantasy Moon) in a ship attached to hot air balloons, before returning home. Loosely based on Baron Munchausen's Marvellous Travels.

The Wizard of Oz (1939): A girl gets in a strange world, before returning home. Based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

* * *

Frequently asked questions - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

Is the Over the Moon film based on a book or comics?

No, Over the Moon is not based on either books or comics.

Is there a post credit scene in Over the Moon?

No, there's no post credit scene in Over the Moon.

Where can I see Over the Moon? Where can I watch Over the Moon online? Is Over the Moon available on Netflix? Is Over the Moon on Amazon?

As of 2021.10.09, Over the Moon is available only on Netflix.

* * *

Resources - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

Official

Over the Moon: Official article.

Information

IMDB: Over the Moon (2020): Database article.

WikiPedia: Over the Moon (2020 film): Database article.

Letterboxd: Over the Moon 2020: Database article.

Rotten Tomatoes: Over the Moon 2020: Database article.

Creation

: Concept art article.¤

Reviews with no spoilers - Over the Moon film (2020)

Umesh Punwani (for KoiMoi): Over The Moon Movie Review: The MOST Disneyist Non-Disney Film Ever!: Review video about the Over the Moon film with no spoilers.Ł/§

Reviews with spoilers - Over the Moon film (2020)

: Review article of the Over the Moon movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤

Analysis - Over the Moon movie (2020)

: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Over the Moon.¤

* * *

Buying the product - Over the Moon, movie (2020)

* * *

Have you seen the Over the Moon film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!

 

Comments powered by CComment