{"id":19978,"date":"2020-10-09T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shows4.com\/mobile\/?p=19978"},"modified":"2021-03-02T06:18:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T06:18:45","slug":"over-the-moon-review-glen-keanes-delectable-netflix-debut-waxes-as-it-goes-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shows4.com\/?p=19978","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Over the Moon\u2019 Review: Glen Keane\u2019s Delectable Netflix Debut Waxes as it Goes Along"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nWhen did American kids movies become so preoccupied with death? When did being a beloved relative in a colorful animated children\u2019s adventure become as much of a death sentence as being a teenager in a \u201cFinal Destination\u201d film? Loss and the lessons that come with it are somewhat foundational to a genre that\u2019s still associated with the likes of \u201cBambi\u201d and \u2014 more recently \u2014 \u201cThe Lion King,\u201d but over the last few years it\u2019s started to feel as if feature-length cartoons have embraced their function as surrogate grieving counselors for young people who need a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.
\nThis is not a complaint: As someone raised on the grief-adjacent \u201cMy Neighbor Totoro\u201d (and comforted much later in life by the wisdom and beauty of a film like \u201cKubo and the Two Strings\u201d), I know that steering children through their worst sadness is one of the most valuable things that a movie can do. It\u2019s just to say that Netflix\u2019s \u201cOver the Moon\u201d \u2014 the story of a modern Chinese girl who thinks that proving the existence of the moon goddess Chang\u2019e will convince her widower dad not to re-marry and \u201cforget\u201d her mother \u2014 might have seemed more urgent if it hadn\u2019t come on the heels of \u201cKubo,\u201d \u201cCoco,\u201d \u201cOnward,\u201d or even \u201cWonder Park.\u201d If there were more of an itch for this movie to scratch, as opposed to a red patch of skin that\u2019s already been scraped raw.
\nBut if \u201cOver the Moon\u201d launches into orbit on the strength of its specificity, much of the film is frustratingly generic for a fable so rooted in a particular sense of place, the unique traditions that come with it, and the way they help a certain little girl learn to appreciate the enduring light of her late mother\u2019s love. The result is a taste of Chinese folklore that\u2019s almost Disneyfied beyond recognition \u2014 a movie that gets a bit lost in space between telling a story about one kid, and telling a story that could resonate with them all.
\nThe feature directorial debut of animation legend Glen Keane (whose character designs have defined everything from \u201cThe Rescuers\u201d to \u201cTangled\u201d), \u201cOver the Moon\u201d essentially builds an elaborate framing device around the ancient myth behind China\u2019s Mid-Autumn Festival \u2014 an origin story that young people in that part of the world know by heart. Fei Fei (voiced by plucky newcomer Cathy Ang) is a bright girl who\u2019s grown up as the only child of two loving parents who run a food stall along the banks of a historic water town south of the Yangtze River. Her childhood was as sweet as the mooncakes her mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) baked every day, and as full of wonder as the stories her father told her each night (John Cho has the kind of piercingly tender dad voice that makes you want to be a better parent).\n<\/div>\n
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