Turning Red review

TURNING RED: 

LATEST PIXAR ANIMATED FEATURE WILL TURN YOU “RED” WITH JOY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

DISNEY/PIXAR

Mei has a big secret in Pixar’s Turning Red

 

            A young girl discovers she can suddenly transform into a red panda based on her emotions in Turning Red, the new film from Pixar Animation Studios now streaming on Disney+. This marks Pixar’s first animated feature to be solely directed by a female director, Domee Shi who directed the Oscar winning Pixar short, Bao in her feature directorial debut. 

            The film was originally scheduled for a theatrical release, but like other recent Pixar films such as Soul and Luca, it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and put directly onto Disney+ with extremely divisive results. I understood why Soul was released on Disney+ instead of theaters because of the lockdown and there weren’t any movie theaters open to show it, Luca I felt could have been released in theaters when it came out, but I get that it wasn’t exactly a huge blockbuster compared to other Pixar films, it was a much smaller story, this one I am a little disappointed wasn’t released in theaters because the animation is vibrant, but like Luca it’s one of the small-scale Pixarmovies so it’s not a big loss. 

            In the tradition of films like Toy Story, Inside Out, Coco, and Soul, leave it to Pixar to turn a movie about a girl who becomes a giant red panda (like an adorable Incredible Hulk) into an emotional powerhouse. Big shock, they succeeded! 

            While I wouldn’t consider this to be one of the all-time best Pixar films, I still think this is a very funny, clever, and heartfelt animated feature that once again shows the Pixar storytellers and animators doing what they do best, providing eye-catching animation and bold, thought-provoking stories. 

            The film is set in 2002 Toronto, Canada and follows a 13-year-old girl named Meilin “Mei” Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) who does just about everything a girl her age does, hangs out with her best friends, obsess over boys, listening to music by their favorite boy band, and getting caught in the chaos of adolescence. As if normal changes in interests, relationships, and body wasn’t enough, not to mention her mother (voiced by Sandra Oh-Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve, Raya and the Last Dragon) who’s overprotective to a fault, Mei soon discovers she has the power to transform into a red panda whenever she gets emotional, and all sorts of hijinks ensue. 

            It turns out the red panda transformation runs in the family and dates back thousands of years where female members of Mei’s family would turn into red pandas as part of a ritual…don’t worry, it’s all part of growing up and becoming a woman! Mei quickly takes a liking to her red panda form as well as her friends, Miriam (voiced by Ava Morse), Abby (voiced by Hyein Park), and Priya (voiced by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan-Never Have I Ever, My Little Pony: Make Your Mark) and will have to find a middle-ground between standing up to her mother and becoming a woman while also making her and the rest of her family happy. 

            The film also features the voices of Orion Lee as the voice of Mei’s father, Jin, Wai Ching Ho (Premium Rush,Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hustlers) as Mei’s grandmother, Wu, James Hong (Mulan, Jackie Chan Adventures, Kung Fu Panda trilogy) as Mr. Gao, and Sasha Roiz (Caprica, Grimm, Superman: Red Son) as Mr. Kieslowski. 

            Overall, Turning Red adds another well-crafted, gorgeously animated, and very timely film into Pixar’s catalog that is sure to delight everyone. Kids will enjoy the cute red panda and silly humor and adults will appreciate the cultural themes and the message about letting your child grow up their own way is something parents will take away from it. 

            Despite the film taking place in the early 2000s, the themes and subject matter is anything but dated. The red panda transformation is obviously an allegory on puberty which is something I feel everyone can relate to and for kids who are learning about it, this is honestly the perfect movie to show them because it sums up what going through puberty is like flawlessly, they probably won’t turn into giant red pandas but the emotions, changes, and situations Mei is going through are very realistic and for anyone who was ever a teenager, this will likely hit close to home. 

             Besides puberty, the other theme this film addresses that is arguably more important and relevant today is growing up and parents letting their children grow up their own way. We’re all familiar with moms that are overprotective and overbearing of their children and have a tendency to embarrass them in public, but mean well, Mei’s mother is definitely a more exaggerated depiction of one of those moms and will do things like show and announce that she brought health supplies for Mei in front of her classmates, she’s also strict and religious but throughout the course of the film she learns that Mei might not want to be part of the same religion or become exactly like her mom, and let her follow her own path. 

            I won’t give anything away here, but they do make her a semi-antagonist during the climax (Which is admittedly a really entertaining final act), but as Mei learns to stand up for herself, her mom learns to let her daughter grow up and become the woman she wants to be. I think this alongside other animated films like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Coco are excellent movies that tackle this topic that everyone should see. 

            The animation is very colorful and vibrant, it often feels like you’re watching a computer-generated anime with the backgrounds, character designs, facial expressions, and subtle details like characters’ eyes getting big and sparkly. Not to mention, the whole concept of a girl magically turning into a monster or creature is ripped straight out of several different anime shows and movies, but as long as it does something fresh and new with this familiar concept it doesn’t feel like a rip-off at all.

            I don’t know what else to say, Turning Red has just about everything that makes a great Pixar film, beautiful animation, bold storytelling, vivid characters, and timely subject matter done in very intelligent and entertaining ways. It’s the kind of movie you watch with your family, and it just puts everyone in the best of the moods as they’re watching it, this is a movie that will turn you “Red” but not with anger.