Animated movie of the day: Over the moon (2020)
Death isn't a stranger in the world of animation, as all the jokes of Disney moms can attest to. Grief, however? While not uncharted territory, most western animated movie protagonists seldom discuss their feelings on the matter as anything but a footnote of their emotional journeys. So to have this film try and do that in a traditional animated musical is one brave but lofty goal.
Directed by Glenn Keane, most renowned for animating characters like Ariel from The Little Mermaid(1989), the film takes cues from those old animated classics to approach Chinese mythology in the modern world. Namely, how a girl called Fei Fei idolizes the story of the goddess of the moon Chang'e and her beloved Houyi. As her father is about to get married for a second time and bringing along a half brother with them, she decides to meet her idol in the moon in hopes she can help her bring her mother back, for Chang'e always kept faithful to Houyi even after his demise millennia ago.
If this sounds like a strangely depressing set up, you'd be surprised how much the film does to create an adventurous narrative with it. It's full of humor, imaginative visuals and explosive musical numbers with vibrant colors, cute companions and chases of childlike imagination. Doesn't hurt Chinese culture is depicted with breathtaking detail and accuracy (which makes the more jarring half the cast is composed by Korean-American actors but let's ignore that for now).
However, the foundation is still composed of two stories of people who never moved on from the death of a loved one. And while it's clear one stands to contrast with the other to reinforce the emotional impact, there's parts when they do trip on each other's feet, with goofy shenanigans in the second act that clearly exist just to pad out the run time.
That said, this doesn't detract from either that climax, nor the beauty of the message: to let go so you can love again.
