OVER THE MOON—A MOVIE REVIEW WHICH REMINDS ME OF MY CHILDHOOD!

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Over the moon is an American-Chinese animated movie that I watched after its release in 2020. This drama is one that I love so much because I could relate to some parts of it, which happened to me while I was growing up.

Plot Summary:

This animated movie talked about a girl name Fei-fei whose mother shared a story of a moon goddess, Chang’e who lived in the moon waiting for her lost love, Houyi. Fei-fei lived happily with her mother and father in a small village. In that village, her family ran a bakery that produced mooncakes. Fei fei’s happiness soon disappeared after her mom passed on and she then started to live alone with her dad.

After a while Fei-fei’s father found another love and decided to remarry, she felt betrayed and concluded it was impossible to accept her father’s fiancée, Mrs Zhong and her son,Chin. Fei-fei who grew up fascinated by the story her mom shared with her before passing on, about the moon goddess, was determined to meet the moon goddess in a bid to stop her father from remarrying, and to show him that love and memories should last forever. Regardless of her resolution, her step-mother and step-brother tried to bond deeply with Fei-fei, but their efforts yielded no result.

Determined, Fei-fei built a rocket and embarked on a journey to the moon. On the moon, she came to know of the radiant kingdom named Lunaria, ruled by Chang’e, the moon goddess. Chang’e gave Fei-fei a challenging task to get back the "Gift of Eternal Life" , with which the goddess could use to see her lost love, Houyi in exchange for a picture Fei-fei needed to stop her father from remarrying. The task wasn’t an easy one for Fei-fei but she succeeded. At the end of the film, Chang’e was able to see Houyi, sadly for only a short time and was able to learn to let go of her anguish, from losing Houyi and to rule to bring happiness to her Kingdom, Lunaria.

Chang’e encouraged Fei-fei to do same, teaching her how important it was to embrace change and live in the present. With this newly discovered understanding and acceptance, Fei-fei returned to her home on earth and accepted her father’s decision to remarry and also accepted both her step mother and her step-brother.

I was able to relate to this drama because I lost my dad at some point in life, my mom, my siblings and I were all alone. I found it very difficult to accept that my dad was no more, whenever I saw kids with their dads, I felt jealousy and then rage. Years went by and the pain of loss seemed less, that is, until my mom found someone new and planned remarriage. I resented my mom and her fiancé so much, I felt my mom had betrayed my siblings, my late dad and I. Her fiancé put in so much effort in trying to woo my siblings and I but I, especially just disliked him so much, for taking my Dad's place.

It became worse when they eventually married and gave birth to my new step-sibling whom I resented even more. But as time went on, I opened my heart to a new love and family. I still cherish the memories of my late Dad, but I became fond of my new Dad and sibling. We are now one big beautiful family and they mean the world to me!

MOVIE/CHARACTER RATINGS

Fei-fei: I loved her determination at the beginning and her strength to embrace her present at the end of the movie.

Mrs Zhong—her father’s fiancée: I loved her character so much because of how kind and patient she was with Fei-fei(reminds me of my new dad)

Chin—her step-brother who was so cheerful and playful (reminds me also of my new sibling)

Putting into consideration the songs, visuals and the message passed across, i would give this drama an 8.5/10.

It's available to watch on Netflix.

Thank you for your continuous support 🙏