Turning Red: Film Review
Parents fed up with watching Encanto for the millionth time will be pleased to know that there’s a new children’s animation in town (or on Disney+). Turning Red isn’t a musical but it stars a cute and super fluffy red panda so they’re bound to be hooked!
Pixar’s latest animation is set in Toronto in 2002. It stars Meilin ‘Mei’ Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian schoolgirl who lives her life to please her mum Ming (Sandra Oh), who expects nothing less than perfection. Rather than hanging out with her friends Abby (Hyein Park), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and Miriam (Ava Morse), having fun and obsessing over the boyband 4*Town after school, Mei has to help her family run their Chinese temple. One day, she wakes up as a giant red panda and discovers that the transformation happens whenever she feels a lot of emotion.
Domee Shi, the first woman to direct a Pixar film solo, has created such a wonderful coming-of-age story with a lead character that is wacky and absolutely hilarious. Her quirks cracked me up! As someone who also turned 13 in 2002, I could relate hard to Mei and her pals obsessing over the boy band, having all-consuming crushes, and buying teen pop magazines. 4*Town have some great early 2000s bops (written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell) and I would have definitely been a fan!
The red panda transformation provides the spectacle and the fun (it’s so much fun!) but it is also a metaphor for puberty and your body changing. Becoming the panda helps Mei realise who she wants to be instead of who her mum wants her to be. She stops trying to achieve her mum’s level of perfection and enjoys herself. I really liked this message and the mother-daughter storyline.
Newcomer Chiang is excellent as Mei, who is on a rollercoaster of emotions, and Oh brings the authority as the overbearing and overprotective mum who needs to just let her daughter live. Mei’s friends are good fun, especially the deadpan and standoffish Priya, who is just too cool for school.
It’s a shame it didn’t get a theatrical release as the animation is gorgeous and I love the music. Turning Red is a delightful, feel-good film that I absolutely adored and would happily watch again.
On Disney+ now