By: Andrew Wing
Turning Red is a 2022 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Domee Shi (who has worked for Pixar, contributed to multiple films, including Inside Out, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4), in her feature directorial debut, and written by Shi and Julia Cho. The film stars the voices of Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve), Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever), Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho (Daredevil series, Hustlers), Tristan Allerick Chen, and James Hong (Chinatown, Mulan, Kung Fu Panda).
Set in Toronto, Ontario in 2022, the film follows Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who transforms into a giant red panda when she gets into a state of strong emotion. Inspired by Shi’s experiences in Toronto, the film began development in 2018 after she pitched it to Pixar in October 2017. It is the first Pixar film solely directed by a woman and the second to feature an Asian lead character after Up (2009).
After a special screening that took place in London at Everyman Borough Yards on February 21, 2022, Turning Red had its world premiere on March 1, and was released on the Disney+ streaming service on March 11, along with simultaneous limited runs at the El Capitan Theatre and AMC Empire 25. It was also released theatrically in most countries without Disney+.
THE GOOD
In today’s age of cinema, there is nothing bigger at the moment than the superhero movies, specifically the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is no debating that. But what I think is second would have to be the Disney Pixar films. They really are an annual social event for families with young kids, and Turning Red just so happens to be that at this very moment. It is the 25th Pixar feature film and the first since Luca (see my full review here), and while I enjoyed that, it didn’t get a ton of love from critics like we usually see when it comes to Pixar. But I strongly believe Turning Red will get a whole bunch of love from critics, and we have already seen that in the past few days as it has received widespread critical acclaim. I have been itching to see it ever since seeing the trailer midway through 2021, and I was surprised when it decided to go completely on Disney+ rather than in theaters, but with the way the world is today, I am not going to complain about saving some cash. So without further ado, let’s dive into this review and see if Turning Red is yet another classic Pixar movie!
After Domee Shi’s unbelievably beautiful short film Bao, I was ecstatic to see that she would be making her feature film directorial debut with this, and let’s not waste any time, she crushed it. The story is inspired by Shi’s personal experiences and I just loved the story here, so much so that I found it to really be the best part of the film. The story follows a 13-year-old girl who’s entering puberty and at this pivotal moment in her life, she turns into a big red panda whenever her emotions are inflamed, and this obviously causes all kinds of havoc in her life. The best part about the story though is how they portray the protagonist. I loved how they built the personality of her to be someone who is extremely excitable and I bet a lot of viewers will see a piece of their younger selves in her. I really liked how her emotions seemed to surface before she was even able to process or understand that they were there because that is so true to being a 13-year-old. Also, I loved how the film allowed us to see the character’s flaws pretty clearly, but still made a point to show us that she comes from a place of understanding. The story was fantastic, but Rosalie Chiang’s voice performance here as Meilin was so lively and it bolstered her character forward into all of our hearts. All in all, she is endearing and likable and she is a worthy member of the Pixar main characters family.
Similar to the film’s premise, watching it is kind of a roller coaster too because it’s a slightly stressful movie because you will swing through emotions the same way the character does. More in depth though, the film was certainly built around a strong central relationship with the protagonist and her mother and I loved that because you could tell it was really driven from the heart. I assume the director knew these two people very well and it’s clear that she put some of her mother and some of herself into these characters and I think that was a great decision. It was a great decision because I felt a deep understanding and empathy for them even though the decisions they made might not be ones I would’ve made at that age.
Speaking of that mother-daughter relationship, I already touched on Chiang’s performance as the daughter, but now it’s time for the other half of that relationship. It’s so tough to judge a voice performance in an animated movie, but I loved Sandra Oh’s voice performance as Mei’s mother. I first saw Sandra Oh in Grey’s Anatomy as she played a fan favorite Christina Yang, but she killed it here. She has humor in this which is great as her character can be crazy at times as an overprotective mother, but she also allows us to see the other side of her character as this loving and caring mother that she is. And while she is, she still struggles because she just didn’t know how to go about it the right way. The film also dived into her relationship with her own mother which brought more to the film, and I thought Sandra Oh was the standout performer here. All the voice performances we got from Mei’s friends too were amazing. The relationship between her friend group was very heartfelt too and I felt connected to a lot of them. They ultimately did such a good job at conveying how important her friends were to her which is so true to 13-year-olds.
With any Disney Pixar animated movie, you surely have to address the animation style, and I loved the animation style here. I do with most Pixar films, but this film looked different from others. It had a sort of an anime style to it with the way the characters become a different emotion in just one frame. I liked that it made all the characters cartoonish and silly looking too. The film as a whole looked amazing with the colors and the lighting being beautiful, and the panda itself looked as cuddly as it was appreciated for being. I loved Pixar’s visual approach here, and I dig the fact that they are trying to have all their movies look different from each other. This film just has so many great things going on. It’s funny, and the mother-daughter relationship is responsible for so many laughs. I also loved how director Domee Shi decided to include the whole boy band storyline and how she made it so the concert was the most important step in their lives, which is again, so true to a young teenager’s life because they oftentimes love boy bands.
In conclusion, the film’s use of culture is awesome, and its message is wonderful and there’s a lot to take away from it. The movie is ultimately about all these things that young people are meant to feel ashamed about (taste in music, liking boys, body changes, emotional changes, etc.), but the film’s message is that maybe we should be in tune with the changes our bodies and minds go through and that felt very true to the teenage experience because we become a new person every single year. All in all, I would definitively say Shi’s vision was realized and although it wasn’t this “meaning of life” Pixar movie that get tons of awards like Soul or Inside Out did, it’s still a smaller-scale poppy and bubbly story that I would bank on getting a Best Animated Feature nomination at next year’s Academy Awards.
THE BAD
If you thought in this review that I was going to blast a Disney Pixar animated film, well you were wrong. I have nothing bad to say about this. I will say though that I unfortunately could see some people being annoyed with this movie, and maybe even the main character at times. The things that happen are over the top and exaggerated but it makes a lot of sense for this story. People also might be annoyed with the mom because her relationship could be seen as borderline abusive at times, but again, the film just exaggerates and I didn’t find anything wrong with that because it serves the story.
Also, there are two things I have seen from other reviews for this movie that have really annoyed me that I want to address. The first being how the movie discusses puberty and menstruation despite being labeled a kids movie. My response to that is with a movie titled “Turning Red” that deals with a girl entering puberty, you would immediately think of it being a metaphor for getting a period, so you should be prepared because they do actually talk about periods a little bit. I honestly thought it was smart to touch on that rather than just leaving it at the level of allegory. It was smart, and I think it did the film wonders because nowadays, a lot of kid films are scared to go there. At the end of the day, the movie is trying to be open about reality which is a good step to take in my eyes. Like why not prepare people for the reality of what’s going to happen so they can comfortably transition into this stage of their life. All of this was good to me, but at the same time it isn’t so explicit about it. For example, if your kid doesn’t know what a period is, they still won’t after seeing this if that makes sense which makes all the criticism all the more annoying. All in all, if you’re uncomfortable watching this movie with your kids, that is completely a “you” problem, and not something Pixar needs to cater to.
And the second thing I have seen that bugs me is that people are calling this a ripoff animated version of the 2017 classic coming-of-age drama film from Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird, that was one of the best films of the past decade. To that I say shut up. Like all coming-of-age stories have their similarities, and this film takes place during the main character’s young teenage years, whereas Lady Bird takes place right before they are about to leave for college. I honestly don’t understand that criticism, and it shouldn’t keep you from checking this out, because it really is an original story that is so charming.
THE VERDICT
From Domee Shi in her feature directorial debut, Turning Red is another classic for the storied animation house, Pixar. The film perfectly captures the emotional roller coaster that comes with being a young teen. It’s a personal story that explores a mother-daughter relationship in a pretty honest way. It’s frequently hilarious, it has a really great message, and it was just a lot of fun and I was surprised by how much I liked this movie.
TED TAKES RATING - 8.6/10
Turning Red is now available to watch on Disney+. Check out the latest trailer below.