A Disney Pixar Review: Turning Red
I recently watched Disney Pixar’s newest film Turning Red, directed by Domee Shi, with original songs by Billie Eilish and Finneas. It released on March 11th for our streaming pleasure on Disney+. So, for those of you who have not yet seen it, fair warning: This movie review contains spoilers!
“She is a red panda!” The protagonist of Disney Pixar’s Turning Red is a thirteen-year-old girl named Mei-Lin Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang). Mei Mei (as her mother affectionately calls her) has recently turned 13 as the film begins. During this time of her quickly changing emotions and personality, she faces a surprising genetic twist: every strong emotion that she feels will cause her to turn into a big red, fluffy panda, as it has apparently happened with her mother and grandmother before her! Mei Mei, however, had no advance warning of this twist.
As with most animated films with a fun storyline, before discovering the panda, everything in Mei Mei’s life was normal. She had school, which she excels in, her friends whom she loves, and her over-protective parents - or rather, her overbearing mother Ming (Killing Eve’s Sandra Oh). In the beginning, Mei is evidently trying to balance her social life with family life, as she constantly wants to please her mother, and desperately seeks her approval.
On top of that, by the time we have not even gotten 15 minutes into the film, Mei-Mei has suddenly discovered boys, outside of the adoration she and her friends have on the boy band “4-Town” (featuring the voices of Finneas and Jordan Fisher). Just this would be a lot to handle for anyone, but when an uncontrollable transformation into a red panda occurs whenever Mei gets too excited or angry, the zaniness really sets in. Thanks a lot, genetics!
Luckily, and unsurprisingly for Mei Mei, there is a way to rid her of the panda. By undergoing a ritual connecting her to the spiritual realm, she will be able to conceal her panda spirit in a pendant or amulet of some kind. Telling her to stay at home and away from others while waiting for the right time to undertake the ritual, Mei’s mother assures her that once the ritual takes place during the next red moon, over a month away, everything will be fine.
As usual, Mei does as her mother asks. Made clear in the first few seconds of the film, what had always been the most important thing for Mei was to obey her parents, after all they have given her. So, she does not reveal her love of boys, 4-Town, loud music, or wild dancing to them - at least not until the last 20 or so minutes of the movie. Before the onset of the panda action, she even chooses cleaning her family’s temple over hanging out with her best friends after school so as not to disappoint her mother.
After the panda, Mei discovers who she really is, deep down. Showing her parents that she is able to temporarily neutralize the panda, thanks to the love and support of her besties, she returns to school. The message of the importance of friendship, or the love of friends, is definitely something that makes this film worth seeing. Wanting to get tickets to see 4-Town, Mei and her friends exploit the cuteness of her panda to the whole school to raise the ticket money. This is how Mei realizes her true personality. She is finally able to see how good it feels to have fun with her friends and work for something that she really loves.
Right before getting caught at a classmate’s birthday party, Mei and her friends unfortunately learn that the 4-Town concert they have been working for, and unleashing the panda for, is on the same night as Mei’s ritual. Now what? Clearly, she is still torn between the fun, excitement and happiness she feels when she is with her friends, and the desire to keep the affection and approval of her mother close. Mei’s realization that she does not always have to be perfect for her mother leads to her acceptance of her panda alter-ego, and all the good that it has brought her, allowing her to let go, have fun with her friends who mean the world to her, and be true to her own personality. She tells her mother and family that she has decided to keep the panda rather than rid herself of it, and then runs off to make amends with her friends at the concert. This moment leads to yet another “totally surprising” (read: totally expected) turn of events. As was easily predicted, Mei’s mother once again unleashes her own panda, after cracking the pendent which contained it.
Reflecting her deeply hidden emotions, Ming’s panda is revealed to be intentionally enormous, literally crashing the concert. There is a final confrontation, but ultimately mother and daughter relationships are mended. The film ends happily, as would be expected with a Disney Pixar film, and except for Mei, the pandas of her mother, grandmother and aunts (who came to help with the ritual) are once again contained in their cases.
While entertaining, quirky and heartwarming, this film is also filled with positive representation, along with positive messages about the importance of friendship and family. As Pixar’s 25th feature film, it is the first one to be directed by a woman, and only the second where the main protagonist is Asian. It is the first one to openly talk about the concept of puberty and sexuality, mentioning pads, periods, cramps, and raging teenage emotions as the center of the story.
Overall, I would suggest seeing this film. It is fun and relatable, giving audiences of young adults an opportunity to think back on the hardships of being a teenager for the first time. While sometimes amusing, and a little bit cheesy, Disney Pixar’s Turning Red is a very well-made – though goofy - film about what it feels like to grow up and find out who you truly are. A standard "coming of age" saga, with a goofy twist. The important lesson the producers want the audience to take away from this movie is that a being different is not a bad thing. A person can still stay close to those whose love and approval mean the most to them, while embracing what makes them different, because it can make life meaningful and special.
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