Following the success of recent animated features centering on growing pains and emotions like “Luca” and “Soul,” Disney and Pixar Animation Studios are continuing their hot streak. With their latest release “Turning Red,” which hit Disney Plus on March 11.
As soon as the film started its streaming streak, the audience has gone wild with most people streaming the film in record numbers on opening day to some immature parents who think a cute animated film about puberty through the lens of a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian teenager who is going the change and learning to tame her inner red panda. Parents of today are open to exposing their children to phones at a young age which has all kinds of unregulated online content that is inappropriate for the development of teens but they have a problem with an authentic animated feature film discussing puberty. I will let you make up your mind after watching the film.
Domee Shi,( also the director of the Oscar animated short "BAO", which is a definite watch, does have a reusable tissue by your side) while Turning Red follows the story of Meilin Lee( Rosalie Chiang), a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl growing up in Toronto in the early 2000s. A throwback to the pre-pandemic times, when teens didn't have the mental pressure of their pressing finances that have squeezed them into survival mode.
Anyway, Meilin Lee wakes up one day to discover that she transforms into a magical giant red panda ( a fluffy red panda that is big enough to hug and let all your worries melt away, give me the merchandise right now) whenever she gets angry or emotional or when she is feeling too much. Between this and struggling with her ever-changing world both inside and out, Pixar once again delivers an incredibly entertaining and heartwarming adventure. Especially, to a fellow Asian girl who wanted to watch this film when she was a teenager herself.
As with most Pixar productions, the film addresses universal themes and makes them relatable to a wide range of audiences, despite the specificity of the plot. “Turning Red” not only follows the traditional Pixar model but impressively steers away from it to offer something fresh and new to the studio’s catalog.
The transformation of the complicated relationship between helicopter parent Ming Lee ( Sandra Oh) and Mei is humbling to see as every Asian child can relate to the dynamic.
While the film focuses mainly on Meilin and her chaotic journey in a transitional period of her life, the characters around her are equally important to the story and the film’s overall themes and messages.
Be it her posse containing the extrovert Abby (
Hyein Park ), the quiet reader who knows how to throw a beat, Priya ( Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and of course the every encouraging out-of-the-box friend, Miriam ( Ava Morse). The comfort that a knit group of friends can provide is unmatched by the hundreds or thousands of subscribers on the internet. I am lonely so if anyone wants to become a genuine friend, you connect through social media.
At the start of the film, Meilin is confident about who she is and what she likes, no matter what others say or think. But her developing identity clashes with the second-generation Asian immigrant idea of "the perfect child" that she must uphold around her family. While Meilin is obedient, respectful, and focused on the goals laid out by her overprotective mother. Whereas she's also juggling the desire to distance herself from her family and spend more time with her friends in their obsession with the heartthrob boy band “4-Town;” ( Jordan Fisher, Finneas, Josh Levi) ( I can imagine BTS obsession on my mind even though the tickets are obnoxiously expensive) their mission is to see them in concert when they come to Toronto at all costs.
“Turning Red” highlights the difficulties and awkwardness that stem from moving from childhood adolescence to being a teenager.
The best part was the turban adorning Punjabi watchman who hasn't been seen before in any Pixar animated feature film as well as a girl wearing an insulin patch that Meilin as the Red Panda pushes inside her bathroom stall. They are minute details with a big impact on actual inclusion and diversity in animated feature films that influences the psyche of the predominately young minds watching these films on repeat.
While this is far from the first film to address these topics, “Turning Red” expertly portrays these experiences in a way that anyone who has either gone through or is currently going through the same thing can relate to. There are even references to menstruation, sexuality, and other topics that one would not normally associate with Pixar’s typical mode of operation. That is refreshing to watch and witness through the lens of a female director, a prominently Asian cast, and authentic culture at the backdrop
Turning Red is streaming now on Disney+
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