Netflix dialed up its algorithm. The streamer asked: what have I been missing with all these streaming services taking back their content? And the algorithm spit it out: CGI family film. And so arrives Over the Moon, a jumping off point for Netflix into Disney’s space, and doing a darn good impression of one of their mother truckin films. Gotta keep it PC for the kids.
Looking up at the Moon are the Chinese, during their annual moon festival in Late September. Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) is part of a family that produces the special moon cakes made during that time, along her Ba Ba (John Cho). Fei Fei grows distraught when her Ba Ba starts bringing around Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh) and her son Chin (Robert G Chiu), as if they’re part of the family. Resentful and scared everyone will forget Fei Fei’s birth mom, she constructs a rocket to outer space in hopes to prove that Chang’e (Phillipa Soo), the legendary moon goodess, is real.
When you want to start something, you create a checklist for what you need right? You can almost see director Glen Keane and the Netflix people feverishly watching Disney films and creating a checklist for what made those films successful, and basically plagiarizing the heck out of the formula, but masking it in a new setting. So while we enjoy the lush visuals of cute small Chinese towns during the Moon festival, there’s a broken family trying to mend itself, adorable pets, cultural legends, some sort of macguffin (a macguffin is a “thing” the main character has to find to keep the plot going), and some singing along the way. There are worse ideas then to pilfer what made Disney famous, and Over the Moon uses these plot devices well enough that kids can enjoy what they’re watching and adults won’t be too put off.
Netflix also employs the sensory overload strategy to Over the Moon, in case the story doesn’t hook. Even before we go flying into space, the Chinese food and moonlight walks are simply dazzling. That’s this movie’s appetizer. The minute we fly into Chang’e’s palace, it’s all 9,000,000 colors on the spectrum right there! Every minute of every second of every scene. The designers employ this peculiar combination of depthless and depth filled images; sometimes it works, and sometimes it gives you a migraine, but it’s always filled with distracting bright colors!!! When the team tones it back, they do find some amazing images, like Chang’e’s introduction or those moonlit walks, but then it’s usually right back to Crayola Crack. And when that stops working? One of the cute, vibrantly colored animals saunters on scene to Awwww the kids! If you’re looking for a movie to keep your kid distracted while you have to work, Over the Moon checks all those boxes, and will get your kids asking for dim sum, also a plus.
As a first foray into animation, Over the Moon is a solid effort for Netflix, who really hasn’t done this before. With the creative agency the streamer gives their creative teams, I’m curious to see how future CGI endeavors will continue to grow in style and storytelling. At least until that money making algorithm diverts into a new genre to pursue.