Over the Moon is a new Netflix original CGI animated film that wasn’t on my radar. But when I saw some positive reviews that described it as a professionally made, inspirational film, I decided to give it a shot. I hadn’t seen a trailer and I wish I had since it would have saved me from disappointment.

The movie is about a young girl named Fei Fei who loves both science and tales of the Chinese Moon goddess Chang’e. When she realizes her Dad no longer believes in the old myths, she decides to build a rocket ship so she can fly to the moon and prove the goddess (and Jade Rabbit) are up there.

I love the premise of a girl using math, science, and physics to build a rocket. I was willing to go with the impracticality of a child doing this because it’s an animated kids flick and I loved that it was promoting STEM. I was imagining a Heinlein-adjacent youth adventure story. But as soon as she got airborne and the magical space lions showed up, my heart fell as I realized this wasn’t the film it looked like it was trying to be. Indeed, it’s fantasy and a bunch of very colorful (and well animated) nonsense.

And, hey, to be fair, that’s the movie they wanted to make and it’s my fault for not watching a trailer. It’s also inspired by Chinese mythology and they clearly wanted a narrative based on that. Fair enough. But it mostly left me cold and bored and I’m not 100% sure that’s the movie or the lack of cultural awareness on my part (a Chinese person will likely see a more meaningful pic than I did). On the positive side, I did Google it and learned something new about Chang’e and her inspiration to the real Chinese space program. So net positive??

The funny thing is, I can divide this movie into two separate parts, one I liked and the other less so. Everything on Earth is fun, sweet, charming, slightly sad, and inspiration. I loved the little girl and her relationship with her parents and extended family. I liked her focus on education and her can-do spirit. It’s just all the magical fantasy on the Moon that left me cold. I just couldn’t get into any of that and it’s not for a disinterest in the fantastical. I just don’t think it was well done or interesting AND it betrayed the first act of the film. And the less said about the Moon men character design and inserted animated sidekicks the better.

Score: 68