If I had to choose just one word to describe the Oscar-nominated movie Over the Moon, it would be stunning. There wasn’t a scene in this movie that wasn’t beautiful. This heartfelt movie will have you bawling your eyes out—at least that’s how I ended up—because of all the emotions it evokes.
*Spoilers ahead*
The Netflix movie follows Fei Fei, a Chinese girl dealing with the loss of her mother and the fear of her father loving a new woman and forgetting her mom. Through all her sorrow and fear, she holds onto the memories of her mom and the stories she told her about Chang’e, the moon goddess. She believes that if she can prove Chang’e is real, her father will remember her mom and not remarry. She builds a rocket, and between trials and tribulations and the help of Chang’e’s lions, she lands on the moon—along with her rabbit, her future brother-in-law, and his frog. There, she discovers that the Chang’e from real life is very different from the one in her mom’s stories, but later finds out she’s like this because of the sorrow of losing her past lover, Houyi.
One of the most important topics within the movie is grief. Both Fei Fei and Chang’e are unable to move on from the loss of a loved one, and find themselves longing for a past that will never come again. They don’t fully understand that moving on doesn’t mean that they have lost the love they had for the person that passed away. tAfter realizing that Chang’e shares her same feelings, and comes to terms with the fact that those loved ones are not coming back and that they would like the people still living to let them go, Fei Fei understands that she can love her future family and still love her mom; and Chang’e understands that she can still love Houyi while letting herself love the people of Luminaria.
While Over the Moon is not the best-developed movie out there, it’s still worth the watch. It’s a gorgeous movie that deals with topics of loss and grief that will make the audience—especially kids—have a better understanding of some emotions. I hope you have a great time watching this movie!