‘ Over the Moon’ gets lost in 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 newmusical Over the Moon, the first animated film backed by a major Hollywood studio to feature an entirelyAsian cast.

The film stars new comer Cathy Ang as our plucky heroine, backed by such voice actors as Hamilton star Phillip aSoo, comedians Ke nJ eong and Margaret Cho, StarTrek starJohn Cho, Broadway veterans RuthieAnn Miles and Kimiko Glenn, and Killing Eve star Sandra Oh.

It opens and closes in modern day China, but the bulk of the film is set in Lunaria, an imaginary kingdomon the dark side of the moon.

The transition— fromhyperreal 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. It starts with Fei Fei on her quest tomeet the mythical Moon Goddess, Chang’e. The immortal goddess lives on the moonwaiting to reunite with her mortal love, the archer Houyi. Fei Fei’s mother tells her the legend before she gets sick and dies. The film jumps four years into the future and Fei Fei’s dad is considering remarrying, a horrific prospect for his daughter. Fei Fei reasons that if she can prove that Chang’e — and eternal love— really do exist, herdad will ditch his newgirlfriend. “I justwant things back theway theywere,” she says. So she starts building a rocket.

Griefwas part of the film’s DNA: Screenwriter AudreyWells died of cancer in 2018 while the film was being made and the final product is dedicated to hermemory.

The original songs include eight varied and delightful ones by the writing teamof Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Dueld and Helen Park.

EDM, hip- hop, folk and Broadway all take turns shining in such songs as OntheMoonAbove, Mooncakes, Rocket to the Moon, Ultraluminary,

Hey Boy, Wonderful, Yours Foreverand Love SomeoneNew.

Director GlenKeane, whoworked onThe Little Mermaid and Aladdin amongmany others, brings much of his Disney experience to Over the Moon,

this time making his feature directorial debut.

Fei Fei’s build up for hermoonshot and the launch is perhaps themost 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.