Since Toy Story 4, the quality of Pixar’s output has taken a bit of a dip. Onward was a mess that barely utilised its fantasy premise, Luca was fun but unfulfilling, and Soul was generally quite strong but it seems to have lacked the staying power that a lot of Pixar films have, likely because it felt as though it was aimed more towards adults. Soul and Luca especially seem to have had less fanfare due to the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing exclusively on Disney+. But the trailers for the studio’s latest venture, Turning Red, seemed to put things back on track. So has Pixar been saved by a giant red panda, or should the studio be put on red alert?
Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) is a thirteen-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl living in Toronto. She has lofty expectations set onto her by her overbearing mother (Sandra Oh) but is entering a stage of her life where she wants to do her own thing and become her own person. As Meilin starts to become interested in boys, she wakes up one morning to discover that she has transformed into a large red panda.
A family trait that has passed down through generations of women in the Lee family, Meilin must learn to keep her emotions under control in order to keep the panda at bay as per her mothers’ request. But with Meilin’s favourite boyband coming to Toronto, she and her friends Miriam (Ava Morse), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and Abby (Heyin Park) plan to exploit the panda in order to fund their tickets to the concert.
Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) is a thirteen-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl living in Toronto. She has lofty expectations set onto her by her overbearing mother (Sandra Oh) but is entering a stage of her life where she wants to do her own thing and become her own person. As Meilin starts to become interested in boys, she wakes up one morning to discover that she has transformed into a large red panda.
A family trait that has passed down through generations of women in the Lee family, Meilin must learn to keep her emotions under control in order to keep the panda at bay as per her mothers’ request. But with Meilin’s favourite boyband coming to Toronto, she and her friends Miriam (Ava Morse), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and Abby (Heyin Park) plan to exploit the panda in order to fund their tickets to the concert.
I’m delighted to say that Turning Red is truly a return to form for Pixar. Again, whilst Soul was far from a bad film, it’s not something I know many young people to be a fan of. Turning Red meanwhile is bound to have kids and adults doubled over in hysterics whilst also hammering home Pixar’s trademark moral messages about sensitive issues.
I’ve seen a lot of discussions online leading up to the films release about Meilin’s transformation being an allegory for her getting her first period, and at least for the first act or so of the film that line of thinking seems to correlate. However once selling panda merchandise for profit becomes a main driver of the story that allegory goes straight out of the window. Director Domee Shi has confirmed that menstruation is a major theme present in the film, and that’s definitely evident with the amount of jokes about periods and period products there are. But whether the panda represents the period itself is something I’m not completely sold on.
I see it more as an allegory for puberty in general, especially because the majority of the characters are dealing with their bodies and emotions undergoing significant changes. But then comes the exposition.
The story explains that the Lee family women all transform into red pandas, though can undergo a ritual to stop that from happening, though the more you submit to the panda the harder it is for the ritual to succeed. So, all the Lee women have undergone procedures to stop their periods, or puberty? The more you accept the period/puberty the harder it is to have this procedure? Also, Meilin starts allowing her classmates to have pictures with the panda to generate a cash flow, what does a picture with puberty look like…and I don’t even want to think what that means if the panda does represent menstruation.
My point is that this is really the films only weakness is what the panda represents is never set in stone and the whole family legacy thing then starts to cast doubt onto basically any theory.
But let’s get this review back on track. Meilin and her friends are all great characters with complex personalities and emotions that are in a constant state of flux. Meilin in particular is going through an understandably tough time so her mood is constantly changing from happy to sad, angry to confused, and more all within a few scenes. Likewise, her friends aren’t just one note characters. Abby is arguably the closest you get to a one note character as she seems to be aggressive all the time, not in a violent way, but everything she says or does happens with such aggressive force that I can imagine her becoming irritating for some viewers. I personally enjoyed her, I think she brought a great dynamic to the group, but she is by far the weakest link in that group of friends.
I also thought the dynamic between Meilin and her mother was great. I’ve seen a number of films that are about disappointed Asian mothers, and they all seem to be handled the same way. What I enjoyed here was that Meilin does genuinely seem caught in the middle. At the start of the film you get the impression that Meilin and her mother are friends just as much as they are mother and daughter. There’s no conflict there, so when Meilin’s interests start to shift and the relationship becomes strained it presents an interesting fresh perspective on the age-old trope.
I also love that Turning Red is just about kids being kids. All Meilin cares about is sneaking out with her friends and seeing this concert against her mothers wishes, and that's where all of the story and character development comes from. It's so simple, yet executed so well.
I’ve seen a lot of discussions online leading up to the films release about Meilin’s transformation being an allegory for her getting her first period, and at least for the first act or so of the film that line of thinking seems to correlate. However once selling panda merchandise for profit becomes a main driver of the story that allegory goes straight out of the window. Director Domee Shi has confirmed that menstruation is a major theme present in the film, and that’s definitely evident with the amount of jokes about periods and period products there are. But whether the panda represents the period itself is something I’m not completely sold on.
I see it more as an allegory for puberty in general, especially because the majority of the characters are dealing with their bodies and emotions undergoing significant changes. But then comes the exposition.
The story explains that the Lee family women all transform into red pandas, though can undergo a ritual to stop that from happening, though the more you submit to the panda the harder it is for the ritual to succeed. So, all the Lee women have undergone procedures to stop their periods, or puberty? The more you accept the period/puberty the harder it is to have this procedure? Also, Meilin starts allowing her classmates to have pictures with the panda to generate a cash flow, what does a picture with puberty look like…and I don’t even want to think what that means if the panda does represent menstruation.
My point is that this is really the films only weakness is what the panda represents is never set in stone and the whole family legacy thing then starts to cast doubt onto basically any theory.
But let’s get this review back on track. Meilin and her friends are all great characters with complex personalities and emotions that are in a constant state of flux. Meilin in particular is going through an understandably tough time so her mood is constantly changing from happy to sad, angry to confused, and more all within a few scenes. Likewise, her friends aren’t just one note characters. Abby is arguably the closest you get to a one note character as she seems to be aggressive all the time, not in a violent way, but everything she says or does happens with such aggressive force that I can imagine her becoming irritating for some viewers. I personally enjoyed her, I think she brought a great dynamic to the group, but she is by far the weakest link in that group of friends.
I also thought the dynamic between Meilin and her mother was great. I’ve seen a number of films that are about disappointed Asian mothers, and they all seem to be handled the same way. What I enjoyed here was that Meilin does genuinely seem caught in the middle. At the start of the film you get the impression that Meilin and her mother are friends just as much as they are mother and daughter. There’s no conflict there, so when Meilin’s interests start to shift and the relationship becomes strained it presents an interesting fresh perspective on the age-old trope.
I also love that Turning Red is just about kids being kids. All Meilin cares about is sneaking out with her friends and seeing this concert against her mothers wishes, and that's where all of the story and character development comes from. It's so simple, yet executed so well.
The film is clearly inspired by anime, and the eccentricity of everything is absolutely a factor of that. The style of animation is wildly over the top, from the character designs to the dialogue, and that likely contributes to some of the characters potentially being a little grating. But I was here for it, especially in the visual style of the film. The film often used panelling to show multiple different locations or characters at once, giving it an almost graphic novel kind of feel.
But yet again Pixar have failed to match the kind of stunning visuals they achieved in Toy Story 4. Whilst Soul had some beautiful lighting, and Meilin’s panda fur certainly looks great, it’s all stuff we’ve seen Pixar do well the best part of a decade ago. Whilst the visuals certainly have that pop with bright colours and an eye catching style, they lack that technical power to make it seem like they’ve really progressed in their abilities as an animation studio (something Pixar always led the charge on in the past).
I’m also sad that this film has been shuffled straight onto Disney+. Whilst it’s great that it’s available for no extra cost and available to all subscribers straight away, I don’t understand why Dinsey have opted to skip a theatrical release. It’s easy to try and shift the blame onto COVID, but the reality of it is that Encanto had a great box office performance, and all of the major film releases so far this year have performed very well putting the numbers almost back in like with what they were at pre-pandemic. Skipping theatres indicates to me that either Disney didn’t have a lot of faith in the project, or even more worryingly that Pixar could be demoted to creating films exclusively for streaming.
I had a great time with Turning Red, and I can see it being a film that can be really enjoyed by both adults and kids the same way as many of the great Pixar films of old can be. I love that a mainstream family film is tackling themes like puberty and menstruation, it’s even better when you consider that this is Domee Shi’s first feature length film, and she’s a woman from a minority background. This is a film that truly embraces going against the grain of traditional Hollywood and is all the better for it, it’s just a shame that it’s not available in theatres.
But yet again Pixar have failed to match the kind of stunning visuals they achieved in Toy Story 4. Whilst Soul had some beautiful lighting, and Meilin’s panda fur certainly looks great, it’s all stuff we’ve seen Pixar do well the best part of a decade ago. Whilst the visuals certainly have that pop with bright colours and an eye catching style, they lack that technical power to make it seem like they’ve really progressed in their abilities as an animation studio (something Pixar always led the charge on in the past).
I’m also sad that this film has been shuffled straight onto Disney+. Whilst it’s great that it’s available for no extra cost and available to all subscribers straight away, I don’t understand why Dinsey have opted to skip a theatrical release. It’s easy to try and shift the blame onto COVID, but the reality of it is that Encanto had a great box office performance, and all of the major film releases so far this year have performed very well putting the numbers almost back in like with what they were at pre-pandemic. Skipping theatres indicates to me that either Disney didn’t have a lot of faith in the project, or even more worryingly that Pixar could be demoted to creating films exclusively for streaming.
I had a great time with Turning Red, and I can see it being a film that can be really enjoyed by both adults and kids the same way as many of the great Pixar films of old can be. I love that a mainstream family film is tackling themes like puberty and menstruation, it’s even better when you consider that this is Domee Shi’s first feature length film, and she’s a woman from a minority background. This is a film that truly embraces going against the grain of traditional Hollywood and is all the better for it, it’s just a shame that it’s not available in theatres.