I never thought I'd see the day when PIXAR would make a movie aimed so directly at thirteen year-old girls, and one committed to existing in that awkward, gawky space inhabited by thirteen year-old girls. It's a world of boy band obsessions and inappropriate crushes and uncomfortable conversations about periods - yes, this PIXAR movie acknowledges menstruation - and taking those first steps toward independence. This feels like the movie "Brave" wanted to be, but didn't have the guts or the supportive creative environment to be.
However, it's a different world at PIXAR now, and Domee Shi, the director of "Bao," has been able to make a very personal, very specific coming-of-age story with "Turning Red." Mei (Rosalie Chang) is a thirteen year-old who lives in Toronto with her temple keeper parents, Ming (Sanda Oh) and Jin (Orion Lee). She's a good student and dutiful daughter at home, but secretly loves the 4*Town boy band, and hanging out with her trio of friends, Miriam (Ava Morse), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and Abby (Hyein Park). One day, Mei wakes up to discover that she's temporarily turned into a giant red panda, and it'll keep happening every time she can't keep her emotions under control.
"Turning Red" doesn't feel like a PIXAR film in many respects, and I mean that as a compliment. The visuals are much more stylized, with flatter, more simplified character designs, a pastel color scheme, and an altogether cuddlier aesthetic. The animation benefits from this, allowing for more cartoony, exaggerated movements and expressions. There's still plenty of PIXAR's vaunted attention to detail. "Turning Red" takes place in 2002, and the filmmakers gleefully recreate the specific little pop culture trends and visual hallmarks of being a Canadian eighth grader in that era. Tamagotchi! Friendship bracelets! The Toronto SkyDome! As an Asian-American viewer, I also award high marks for getting many cultural details right, like Chinese soap opera broadcasts, the army of Mei's aunties (with accents of varying degrees), and all the beautiful food.
Mei - who I probably identify a little too much with - is a great lead character. She's much closer to a real girl than you usually see in cartoons, allowed to be a little bit of a brat and allowed to have inappropriate thoughts about cute boys. Ming is your classic tiger mom, of course. She loves Mei, but is often overbearing to the point of absurdity. Mei may be struggling with the onset of puberty, but her mother is arguably even more caught off guard, totally unprepared for her little girl to start acting out and pushing back against her expectations. The film is as much about her as it's about her daughter. Some of the material that works the best comes in early scenes, where Ming reacts badly to finding Mei's sexy doodles of her crush, or shows up at her school with sanitary pads - both awful humiliations that fuel Mei's rebelliousness. The "Teen Wolf" transformation hijinks are fun, but the mother/daughter conflicts are where "Turning Red" really offers something worthwhile.
When you look at the last couple of PIXAR films, the studio is starting to tackle more specific types of experiences - like middle age malaise in "Soul," and siblinghood and grief in "Onward." "Turning Red" shares a lot of common ground with "Inside Out," but from a much more boisterous and funny angle. I love "Inside Out," but Riley is so idealized that she doesn't feel like a real kid, and most of that film is really from Joy's point of view as a parental figure. Mei, on the other hand, despite how exaggerated her behavior is, rings much truer to someone going through the agony of early adolescence. So, it makes sense that "Turning Red" makes for a much wilder, weirder, and unusual kind of movie.
I've seen some pushback about the film's content, which is more explicit about girls' growing pains than anything I've ever seen out of Disney, and very rare to see in an animated film from a major studio. However, there's nothing here I'd say was close to inappropriate, especially in the age of "Steven Universe" and "Big Mouth." It might spark some uncomfortable and challenging conversations for squeamish parents, though, which honestly might be a good thing.
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