Moonbound Review

3 star beautifully animated and charming children’s tale.

Moonbound is a 2021 animated German film based on the highly popular German children’s fairy tale Peterchens Mondfahrt (Little Peter’s Journey to the Moon) written by Gerdt von Bassewitz.

It is written by Arne Nolting (Barbarians) and Ali Samadi Ahadi (Lost Children) who also directs. It is available on Digital Platforms 29th November 2021 courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

“Our new house is the best! There’s a unicorn living underneath my wallpaper that can turn itself into a fire breathing pigeon! And if I spit on my feet I can suddenly dance!”

Peter (Aleks Le – Raya and the Last Dragon) is a young boy who has just lost his father, an astronaut from the Moon Mission Pegasus, in a tragic accident. Along with his mother (Elisabeth Kanettis – Frieda: Coming Home) and younger sister Anne (Lilian Gartner) they have just moved to a new house. He is fed up at having to share a room with his sister and listen to her incessant nonsense.

The two have a run-in with a local bully (Jim Libby) who tries to make Peter shoot at a June bug in a jar. He refuses and thinks no more of it. Little does he know that the June bug is Mr. Zoomzeman (Howard Nightingall – The Pilgrim Factor), who has been looking for an animal loving human to help him get to the moon, to retrieve his birch tree and missing arm, thrown up there many years before by the Night Fairy (Cindy Robinson). Confused yet? You will be.

Mr. Zoomzeman approaches Anne and asks for their help. He wants them to go to the moon for him, but Peter thinks it is just another of Anne’s stories. She goes alone and when Peter realises she has gone, he has no choice but to follow. Anne finds herself with Mr. Zoomzeman at a school for young Shooting Stars, while Peter finds himself on a magical cloud, where he meets the Sandman (Raphael von Bargen – Woman in Gold), who reluctantly agrees to help him find his sister.

It seems she has been captured, along with the Shooting Stars, by the evil Moon Man, so they embark upon an epic rescue quest led involving the Night Fairy and the Nature Spirits.

“Your Majesty, I need to get to the moon. I need to save my sister Anne before the night is over.”

Moonbound is a beautifully animated children’s film (I was especially impressed by the hair) which is sure to delight youngsters. It’s colourful, with lots going on and plenty of sparkles. Story wise, it’s a bit over complicated but it’s fun and has lots of positive messages about the power of the imagination, anti bullying and team work.

A great film for a long awaited family outing to the cinema.

“Ah, there they are, the good, the bug and the ugly.”

Signature Entertainment presents Moonbound on Digital Platforms 29th November 2021