Review: Charming 'Over the Moon' gets lost in lunar orbit

The acclaimed animator behind such powerful figures as Ariel, Aladdin, Tarzan and Rapunzel has a new heroine and she's going further than any of his creations — the moon.

Twelve-year-old Fei Fei builds a handmade rocket to blast into outer space in the new Netflix movie musical “Over the Moon,” the first animated film backed by a major Hollywood studio to feature an entirely Asian cast.

The film stars newcomer Cathy Ang as our plucky heroine, backed by such voice actors as “Hamilton” star Phillipa Soo, comedians Ken Jeong and Margaret Cho, “Star Trek” star John Cho, Broadway veterans Ruthie Ann Miles and Kimiko Glenn, and “Killing Eve” star Sandra Oh.

This image released by Netflix shows characters Bungee the rabbit, left, and Fei Fei, voiced by Cathy Ang, in a scene from "Over the Moon." (Netflix via AP)

It opens and closes in modern day China, but the bulk of the film is set in Lunaria, an imaginary kingdom on the dark side of the moon that's filled with glowing, bubblegum-colored blobs and where the laws of physics are tossed out.

The transition — from hyperreal cooked crabs that glisten in a bowl in the first 30 minutes of the film to amorphous, gooey Candyland critters 30 minutes later — is jarring. The sequences on the moon grow tiresome, despite huge toads that fly and squeaky-voiced critters.

It film starts with Fei Fei on her quest to meet the mythical Moon Goddess, Chang’e. The immortal goddess lives on the moon waiting to reunite with her mortal love, the archer Houyi. Fei Fei’s mother tells her the legend before she gets sick and dies.

This image released by Netflix shows the character Jade Rabbit in a scene from "Over the Moon." (Netflix via AP)

The film jumps four years into the future and Fei Fei's dad is considering re-marrying, a horrific prospect for his daughter. Fei Fei reasons that if she can prove that Chang’e — and eternal love — really do exist, her dad will ditch his new girlfriend. “I just want things back the way they were,” she says. So she starts building a rocket.

Grief was part of the film’s DNA: Screenwriter Audrey Wells died of cancer in 2018 while the film was being made and the final product is dedicated to her memory, with some lines like “you have to move on” all the more poignant.

Unfortunately, the film has echoes of previous animated fare — like the missing mother and engineering-bent of the young heroine from “Wonder Park” — and the assortment of adorable sidekicks from “Frozen 2.” It also recalls the trippy Technicolor shift from “The Wizard of Oz.”

This image released by Netflix shows characters Fei Fei, voiced by Cathy Ang, left, and Gobi, voiced by Ken Jeong in a scene from "Over the Moon." (Netflix via AP)

The original songs include eight varied and delightful ones by the writing team of Christopher Curtis (Broadway’s “Chaplin”), Marjorie Duffield and Helen Park (off-Broadway’s “KPOP”).

EDM, hip-hop, folk and Broadway all take turns shining in such songs as “On the Moon Above,” “Mooncakes,” “Rocket to the Moon,” “Ultraluminary,” “Hey Boy,” “Wonderful,” “Yours Forever” and “Love Someone New.” The movie also uses traditional Chinese instruments, like the pipa and guzheng, while singing in Mandarin is heard.

Director Glen Keane, who worked on “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” among many others, brings much of his Disney experience to “Over the Moon,” this time making his feature directorial debut. He’s now helped Netflix get into the animated musical game, thanks to this collaboration between China’s Pearl Studio and Sony Pictures.

This image released by Netflix shows animated character Chin, voiced by Robert G. Chiu, in a scene from "Over the Moon." (Netflix via AP)

Fei Fei's build up for her moonshot and the launch is perhaps the most thrilling element of the film and the animators have put a great deal of thought into expressions for both kids and adults. The food pops and even the wind is expressive. But the film looses coherence and urgency on the dark side of the moon.

Truth be told, Chang’e — voiced fantastically by Soo — is a bit of an Oz-like dictator, a lunar diva whose emotions determine everything on Lunaria. She introduces herself with a boastful K-pop banger “Ultraluminary” — “Ya ready to watch me be legendary?” — like Katy Perry on steroids. “She's nothing like Mama said,” points out Fei Fei.

There are also Angry Birds-like motorcycle-riding chickens — biker chicks, get it? — and a blobby lunar dog called Gobi which is a little too close to Josh Gad’s goofy and endearing Olaf character from “Frozen.”

This image released by Netflix shows characters Bungee the rabbit, left, and Fei Fei, voiced by Cathy Ang, in a scene from "Over the Moon." (Netflix via AP)

Add a small frog, an adorable bunny, a possible step-brother and a magical hare and things get overloaded. It's a shame that viewers after a while will long for the pull of gravity.

“Over the Moon,” a Netflix/Pearl Studio release, is rated PG for “some thematic elements and mild action.” Running time: 99 minutes. Three stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested.

This image released by Netflix shows the character Chang'e, voiced by Phillipa Soo, in a scene from "Over the Moon." (Netflix via AP)

Online: https://www.netflix.com/title/80214236

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

NEW YORK (AP) — Min Jin Lee's first novel since her million-selling “Pachinko” is a long book that grew out of a basic question: What do Koreans care most about?

“We’re obsessed with education, and it became my obsession over why Koreans care so much,” says Lee, whose “American Hagwon,” scheduled for Sept. 29, will likely be one of the year's most anticipated books. Hagwons are for-profit tutoring centers — sometimes likened to “cram schools” — where Koreans of all ages receive instruction for everything from English to guitar to cooking. Any language school or organization that gives private lesson music classes” can be considered a Hagwon, Lee says.

The author, 57, calls herself an “accidental historian,” a novelist who uses broad narratives to unearth the past, make sense of the present and explore race, gender and class among other issues. “American Hagwon” is the third of a planned quartet about Korea and the Korean diaspora that began with “Free Food for Millionaires” in 2007 and continued a decade later with “Pachinko,” a National Book Award finalist that was adapted by Apple TV+ into a series and has been translated into dozens of languages.

In 2024, The New York Times ranked “Pachinko” at No. 15 among the best novels of the 21st century.

Cardinal, a Hachette Book Group imprint, is calling her new release a deep look into “what happens when the rules shift, the world order becomes suddenly unrecognizable and benchmarks of success are no longer a guarantee.” In “American Hagwon,” Lee sets her story everywhere from Korea to Australia to Southern California as she tracks the journey of a middle-class Korean family upended by the Asian financial crisis and hoping to regain its bearings.

“Almost 10 years after Pachinko, Min Jin Lee continues to give shape to history’s seismic shifts in her fiction, refracting generational change through indelible, masterfully etched characters you can’t help rooting for,” Cardinal Publisher and Senior Vice President Reagan Arthur said in a statement.

A native of Seoul whose family emigrated to New York City when she was 7, Lee attended the elite Bronx High School of Science, studied history at Yale University and law at Georgetown University. She knows well the importance of preparation, and laughs as she remembers that her father has nicknamed her “the turtle,” because she is slow — but “very steady.” Her books take a long time, in part, because she puts so much work into them. Her stories are based not just on research and reflection, but on extended travel and interviews.

“I want to hold up a mirror to society, and, as the kids say, do a ’vibe check,” she says.

FILE - Min Jin Lee attends the GQ Global Creativity Awards in New York on April 6, 2023. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)