Good Night Oppy movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Good Night Oppy

This lovely documentary is now available on Amazon Studios and is free to Prime members.

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour 45 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: A

IN A NUTSHELL:

This inspirational documentary is about two rovers sent to Mars, written and directed by Ryan White with writing help by Helen Kearns.

The film follows Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rover affectionately dubbed Oppy by her creators and scientists at NASA. Oppy was originally expected to live for only 90 days but she ultimately explored Mars for nearly 15 years.

THINGS I LIKED:

Golden Globe winner Angela Bassett offers pleasant narration to this story that will capture your heart and inspire your mind.
Hopefully, this will inspire young kids to explore math and science more.
The musical score by Blake Neely offers a gentle lift throughout.
The facts we learn are simply amazing, but the most impressive is how long OPPY lived in the harsh climate of Mars!
It’s so fun to hear which “wake up” songs the crew chose, depending on what was happening at the time during the long adventure.
It’s inspiring to see and hear people talk about this mission with so much passion. What an honor it was to be a part of something so special.
I loved that they were able to include a high school student’s long-term experience with this project.
The names of the twin-sister rovers were perfect: Spirit and Opportunity. Good luck to Perseverance, the granddaughter who is headed off on her own adventure!
I had heard that this fascinating documentary was “sweet and touching” but I couldn’t imagine what that meant when it was talking about robots on Mars. I get it now. It gave me all the feels and even evoked some tears from my eyes. Sweet and touching, indeed.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

I preferred the “first” ending. The second one left me with unanswered questions.
Scientists and engineers who are hoping for more details might be disappointed. The film gives us a simple overview of the ambitious project without boring mainstream audiences with too much “science stuff”.
I love that there were people from all over the world contributing to this project so that it was considered more of a triumph for humanity and not just for Americans.
Many of the scenes are definitely CGI.