OVER THE MOON

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film starts with a little girl named Fei Fei (Bryce Taylor Hall) being told a story by her Ma Ma (Ruthie Ann Miles) about a giant space dog that eats the moon, which explains why it appears in phases. Ma Ma also tells Fei Fei the legend of the moon goddess, Chang’e (Phillipa Soo). She used to live on Earth with her lover, Houyi (Conrad Ricamora), but she took two immortality pills and ascended to the moon, leaving Houyi to die on Earth. Chang’e lived alone on the moon with Jade Rabbit as her only company (“On The Moon Above”).

Fei Fei’s father, Ba Ba (John Cho), runs a shop with Ma Ma where they sell mooncakes, little treats that everyone in town loves (“Mooncakes”). During this time, Ma Ma starts to grow ill, but still keeps her spirits up for Fei Fei, who has taken a huge interest in the moon and how far it is. She gives her daughter a little bunny as a gift, which Fei Fei names Bungee (Edie Ichioka). Soon, Ma Ma passes away, and Fei Fei is heartbroken.

Four years pass, and Fei Fei (now played by Cathy Ang) is still studious while helping out around the shop. She discovers that Ba Ba has started seeing another woman, Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh), and Fei Fei realizes that he is starting to move on from her mother. Fei Fei also meets Mrs. Zhong’s son Chin (Robert G. Chiu), who has a pet frog called Croak and believes he has the superpower to phase through walls.

Soon, Fei Fei’s other relatives, like Aunties Ling (Margaret Cho) and Mei (Kimiko Glenn), plus Grandma (Irene Tsu) and Grandpa (Clem Cheung), arrive for dinner. When the Moon Festival holiday is brought up, Fei Fei gets upset when the aunts say Chang’e is nothing more than a myth and causes a mess at the table when she pulls the Lazy Susan and spills the food. She believes that Chang’e is still waiting for Houyi, and that would mean her father could wait for her mother again instead of remarrying. Although Mrs. Zhong tries to be open to Fei Fei, she will not budge, and after Chin seems to let it slip that Ba Ba and Mrs. Zhong are already engaged, Fei Fei becomes enraged at the thought of having him as a brother.

Bungee hops out the window, and Fei Fei follows her outside. The rabbit leads Fei Fei to see a crane, which is an animal found in Chang’e’s legend. The girl looks to the moon and becomes inspired to build a rocket that will take her there (“Rocket to the Moon”) so that she can prove to her father that he can wait to be with his wife again if he waits like Chang’e waits for Houyi. Fei Fei builds a few prototypes that don’t work, until she gets inspired by the new train that is being built in her town, which runs on magnetic levitation (hence its name “MagLev”). She uses this to finally construct a rocket that will get her as high as she needs to go.

When Fei Fei is done, she gets Bungee with her and slowly takes off. They soon blast off and get close to the moon, but the engines falter and the rocket starts falling back toward Earth. It turns out Chin was stowing away, and Fei Fei didn’t calculate his extra weight. They are soon pulled up by a beam coming from the moon, which causes the rocket to crash onto the surface. Two flying lion creatures find Fei Fei and Chin with Bungee and Croak, and they carry the children with them to the moon kingdom of Lunaria. Three little mooncake creatures called Lunettes bring the kids to meet Chang’e, who performs an entrance song to a crowd of Lunarians (“Ultraluminary”), done in a flashy and extravagant way. It turns out Chang’e is a lot more vain and snobby, rather than the kind and gentle woman Fei Fei was led to believe. The girl runs up to the goddess and introduces herself. When Chang’e learns that Fei Fei flew to the moon, she thinks that the girl is in possession of a gift that she needs that will allow her to see Houyi again, but Fei Fei doesn’t have it. After Chang’e lets Fei Fei take a picture as proof to her dad, she keeps the photo and says she will give it to Fei Fei if she returns with the gift. Chang’e also announces to the other Lunarians that if they find the gift, she will grant them a wish too. This causes everyone to speed off to find it. When Chin wants to help Fei Fei, she sends him away and says she doesn’t want him to be her brother, which makes him sad. She rides away with a trio of moon chickens to get the gift from the crash site.

Chin tries to prove himself as a good brother, so he goes to try and get the photo from Chang’e. When her security catches him, she plans to interrogate him with…a round of ping pong. This also happens to be a favorite game of Chin’s. They engage in a tough match (“Hey Boy”), but Chin ultimately gets the better of Chang’e by calling her selfish for taking the immortality pills and dooming herself to an eternity alone. Chang’e still refuses to give up the picture and keeps Chin away with a barrier.

Fei Fei and the chickens make it to the crash site where she finds a little moon dog called Gobi (Ken Jeong) that used to live in Chang’e’s palace until she exiled him. Fei Fei finds a doll of Chang’e that her mother gave her, which she thinks is the gift. The chickens take it from her and ride off. Fei Fei and Gobi pursue them but end up encountering giant moon frogs. They try to eat the two but Fei Fei manages to lasso a frog using Gobi’s stretchy tongue. They ride the frog back to Lunaria, where Gobi says that Chang’e exiled him after singing a song to her. Fei Fei asks him to sing it, and it’s a song about how one is never alone when they are surrounded by love (“Wonderful”).

The Lunettes try to comfort Chang’e, who grows more and more despaired that she may never see Houyi again. As she cries, her tears become sentient, revealing that the Lunarians are made of her tears. They also mention that her emotions can cause devastating events like a meteor shower. Meanwhile, Bungee comes across Jade Rabbit trying to create a potion for Chang’e so her plan can work. She ingests some of his potion and gets some kind of power. Bungee also appears to show romantic interest in Jade, which he seems to reciprocate.

As they get closer to Lunaria, Fei Fei sees the chickens and chases after them. They fight for the doll, and while Fei Fei ultimately gets hold of it, the doll falls onto a beam of light that shreds it, but Fei Fei avoids getting killed. She is dismayed at having to return to Lunaria empty-handed, until she takes a bite of Mrs. Zhong’s mooncake and finds a piece of an amulet inside. She sees that it connects to another half of the same symbol, which means that the amulet is the gift. She and Gobi race pack to the palace.

Chin manages to break through the barrier just as Fei Fei and Gobi make it inside. The Lunettes help them get to Chang’e, who joins the amulet piece with another half that she possesses. With this and Jade’s potion, she is able to reunite with Houyi (“Yours Forever”). However, because time was almost up, his time with her is short, and he must return to his own realm. Houyi has enough time to tell her that although their love will be forever, she must move on from him. This causes Chang’e immense sadness, causing darkness to overtake Lunaria. She traps herself in a realm of darkness that only Fei Fei is able to pass into. There, she is faced with the image of losing her mother again, which causes her to break down. When Chang’e sees that Fei Fei is sad, she tells her that while her mother may be gone, her spirit lives on (“Love Someone New”), and she motions toward Chin so that she can learn to find happiness in new people. Fei Fei convinces Chang’e of the same so that she can move on from Houyi. The other Lunarians and Gobi run to embrace Chang’e, bringing the light back to the kingdom.

The Lunarians rejoice at Chang’e finding peace, and she prepares to send Fei Fei and Chin home. Fei Fei sees that Bungee is sad about having to leave Jade, so she allows the rabbit to stay with him. Chang’e thanks Fei Fei and says that she was the real gift. She gives Fei Fei the photo to bring back. The lions carry the children back to Earth, but the photo gets burned coming into the atmosphere, although Fei Fei doesn’t seem to mind. Fei Fei returns carrying Chin on her back. Ba Ba sits outside the shop and sees this, realizing that Fei Fei is starting to warm up to a new family.

Sometime later, Ba Ba marries Mrs. Zhong, and the new family celebrates the Moon Festival together. Outside, Fei Fei sees a crane, which is presumably Chang’e paying her a visit as she looks to Fei Fei, who smiles back. Chin then comes by and they go off to play together.

A young girl named Fei Fei loses her mother, and when her father meets another woman, she does not take the news so well. She plans to build a rocket to the moon to meet the moon goddess, Chang'e, who, according to legend, was separated from her true love Houyi and lives alone for eternity.

Fei Fei makes the rocket and flies with her rabbit Bungee, but Chin, the son of her father's fiance, stows away for the ride. They are found by moon inhabitants and are taken to the moon kingdom of Lunaria, where Chang'e rules over them but has grown vain and bitter from living alone. When she thinks that Fei Fei might possess something that will reunite her with Houyi, she sends her and the other Lunarians to find the gift and bring it to her. Along the way, Chin tries to help to prove himself as a good brother, and Fei Fei meets a moon dog named Gobi that once lived in the palace.

Fei Fei finds that the gift is half of an amulet that belongs to Chang'e. She returns it to her, and her plan to bring Houyi back works, but only for a brief time. He tells her that while their love will be forever, she must move on from him. It causes Chang'e to grow so sad that she creates a total darkness over Lunaria. Fei Fei goes to her, and together, they overcome their grief over their lost loved ones and realize that they have others who will love them. Chang'e then helps Fei Fei and Chin get home, but Bungee stays there because she fell in love with Chang'e's companion Jade Rabbit.

Fei Fei's father marries Chin's mother, and they become a bigger, happier family.