Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) lives a picture perfect life with her mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) and father (John Cho). Their bakery specialises in moon cakes and her mother tells her of the moon goddess Chang’e (Phillipa Soo) and her space dog that creates the crescent moon by taking a bite every now and then. But when her mother falls ill and dies Fei Fei struggles to process her loss and four years on when her father tries to introduce Mrs. Zhong (Sandra Oh) and her young son Chin (Robert G. Chiu) she hatches a plan to stop her dad remarrying. She must fly to the moon and prove the existence of Chang’e.

With Over The Moon Netflix have set out to prove that anything Disney can do they can do better. In this case they might not have done better but they absolutely have matched the style and tone of a classic Disney cartoon. The film opens with a lovely montage of Fei Fei’s life with her parents and her mothers illness and decline. Think Disney Pixar’s Up’s opening as a touchstone for this tear jerking beginning. Fei Fei has a rabbit sidekick called Bungee like countless other Disney characters with animal sidekicks. It features brilliant and catchy songs that fit the tone of its Chinese roots. In amongst the beautiful animation there is a fantastic story of learning to cope with the loss of a loved one, something all children have to do. That is not to say it is just a hodgepodge of homages and copies. When Fei Fei gets to the Moon it features a K-pop toe tapping introduction to Chang’e that would fit well into a Lady Gaga concert and ups the ante in its vibrantly coloured animation and characters.

The stand out performer for me was Hamilton’s Philippa Soo who gives a barnstorming performance as the broken hearted Chang’e. Although my children would probably disagree with me and go for one of the many anthropomorphic animals.

If I was forced to pick between Moana, Frozen and this I might actually take pause and occasionally opt to go Over The Moon.