Movie Review - Turning Red

Director: Domee Shi
Genre: Family/ Animation/ Adventure/ Comedy
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Hyein Park, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen
 
Description: A 13-year-old girl named Meilin (Rosalie Chiang) turns into a giant red panda whenever she gets too excited.

Review: Pixar has always had that edge over its competitors. Not only because of the high quality of their animations and stories, but also because of the way they know how to tap into difficult subjects. Whether it is the complex human mind or soul: Pixar knows how to deal with it. But how do they do it when it comes to puberty?
The short answer is: mediocre. This is mainly because the writers did not focus on just the subject of puberty but dragged in a whole lot. The metaphors in “Turning Red” are almost innumerable, if you feel like delving into them. If you don’t, you’ll see a very pleasant animated adventure about a girl who turns into a giant red panda when she lets her emotions run wild.
The thirteen-year-old Chinese-Canadian Meilin lives with her overprotective parents in the Toronto of 2002. Her mother in particular does not allow her daughter much freedom. In turn, Meilin feels a great responsibility to make her parents proud. Meanwhile, hormones are coursing through Meilin’s body. She is preoccupied with boys and swooing over her favorite boy band 4-Town. She is also quite hyper and hysterical, to the point of being irritating.
Meilin wakes up one morning, walks to the bathroom with sleepy eyes and gets the shock of her life when she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She has turned into a big red panda. In amusing dialogue, her mother thinks her first period has occurred. Her good intentions cause Meilin even more embarrassment. And for even more emotion, which awakens the red panda within herself.
“Turning Red” is the first full-length animated feature for director Domee Shi, who made her debut at Pixar with the animated short “Bao, about a lively dim sum. What is special is that almost the entire main crew of this production consists of women. Even more extraordinary that this should be worth mention anno 2022. Shi, along with her co-screenwriter Juli Show, drew from her own life and formed Meilin from her own experience and personality.  
Visuall, Pixar breaks new ground. Even thought it revolves around a Chinese family, there is a slight alignment with the Japanese animation style. The clumsy body proportions of the characters and the almost pastel-colored softness of the backgrounds are also special.
This urge to experiment is also reflected in the themes that are fired at the audience in a rather confusing manner. As if puberty were not enough, Shi and Sho also cram in themes such as the traditional Asian family relationship, friendship, being who you are, cherishing your own emotions and demanding parents. So it’s jam-packed, although the meager elaboration doesn’t get in the way of the action moments.
There appears to be a reason for Meilin’s special transformation and this guarantees both comic and exciting moments. The climax takes place at a concert by the band 4-Town, whose music was written by Billie Eilish and her borther Finneas. With “Turning Red”, Pixar and Disney attempt to address taboos, albeit very carefully. Unfortunately it was completely successful.

Rating: 3/ 5