Over the Moon (2020) snuck under my radar until it was nominated for Best Animated Feature. At that point, I figured I had to check it out. I appreciate that there is enough room in the entertainment industry for CGI animated films not made by Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks, or *shudder* Illumination. Over the Moon is certainly unique, even if it's geared toward Asian cultures that I know little about. And perhaps that's my issue with this film: I'm not its target audience.
While Disney wrote the book on adapting Euro-centric fairy tales into animated films, there are plenty of other cultures in this world that have their own rich lore from which we can extract interesting stories. However, because I haven't grown up hearing these stories, their adaptations seem strange to me when they're in a modern context like Over the Moon. What's worse is that some elements I know about Chinese culture (like ping pong) seem stereotypical when presented in this manner, even if they're trying to be respectful. Overall, my ignorance hindered my full enjoyment of this film.
Don't get me wrong, though: Over the Moon had its moments. The rocket building montage and the ping pong match were some of the best sequences. I was a little surprised that this was a musical, though, as the songs seemed to take a back-seat once the first act finished. Again, the ping pong match was my favorite scene, mostly due to the song they used. Unfortunately, none of these songs were catchy enough to remain lodged in my brain, even days and weeks after watching this movie for the first time. Furthermore, the overarching plot of dealing with loss felt unremarkable (as it has been done to death many times before).
A cliche plot tied to a heavy influence of Chinese culture, I give Over the Moon 3.0 stars out of 5.
While Disney wrote the book on adapting Euro-centric fairy tales into animated films, there are plenty of other cultures in this world that have their own rich lore from which we can extract interesting stories. However, because I haven't grown up hearing these stories, their adaptations seem strange to me when they're in a modern context like Over the Moon. What's worse is that some elements I know about Chinese culture (like ping pong) seem stereotypical when presented in this manner, even if they're trying to be respectful. Overall, my ignorance hindered my full enjoyment of this film.
Don't get me wrong, though: Over the Moon had its moments. The rocket building montage and the ping pong match were some of the best sequences. I was a little surprised that this was a musical, though, as the songs seemed to take a back-seat once the first act finished. Again, the ping pong match was my favorite scene, mostly due to the song they used. Unfortunately, none of these songs were catchy enough to remain lodged in my brain, even days and weeks after watching this movie for the first time. Furthermore, the overarching plot of dealing with loss felt unremarkable (as it has been done to death many times before).
A cliche plot tied to a heavy influence of Chinese culture, I give Over the Moon 3.0 stars out of 5.