Courtesy Pixar Animation Studios
As part of the generation that was just the right age for Pixar’s Toy Story—the first fully-CGI movie ever, mind you—to be mind-blowing, it begins to feel less and less like these movies are for those of us who were kids at the time, particularly when we don’t have any of our own. Still, the animation juggernaut’s newest full-length, Turning Red, which just dropped on the Disney+ streaming service, kinda-sorta recaptures that magic from all those years ago, even if it’s a relatively elementary allusion to our changing bodies that also, despite being set in Canada, somehow misses out on making Degrassi references.
In Turning Red, we meet Toronto kid Meilin (Rosalie Chiang), who is newly 13 and ready to rumble with her best buds circa 2002; when boy bands roamed the Earth and flip phones, Tamagotchis and overalls were all somehow cool. Mei struggles under the weight of her mother’s expectations (hats off to Sandra Oh as the overbearing but loving mom), but she’s still a killer student and fun friend who makes time for everything, which includes lending a hand at the family temple—the oldest in Toronto, we learn.
Things seem pretty OK (which is the default Pixar starting point) until Mei discovers a family curse that finds her family’s young women transforming into gigantic red pandas whenever they get too emotional...something about an ancient curse, but really just a stand-in for puberty. As Mei comes to terms with her new panda form, the infamous boy band 4-Town announces North American dates, and while older folks might find the idea of stakes that come in the form of a stadium pop show laughable, it’s life or death for Mei, as it would be for any 8th grader. Cue hijnks.
Director Domee Shi (who won an Oscar for her short Bao in 2018) finds ludicrously enjoyable common ground for both kids and adults here, and even better, she never shies away from frank talk about things like crushes, periods and complicated familial relationships. This is Disney, though, so some things fall short, from toothless jokes that don’t quite land and nods to queer culture that never come out and say so. Still, Chiang is brilliant and relatable as the evolving Mei, and that we get an entire film dedicated to, created by and starring Asian people ultimately feels like a step in the right direction. Oh, and Mei’s panda form is absurdly adorable.
Toss in some songs by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, the kind of painstaking animation we expect from Pixar and numerous funny-adjacent early-aught moments and you’ve got something that’s almost groundbreaking, if Pixar would trust its audiences to roll with a little more maturity. Turning Red could have been a generational high point. As it stands, it’s fun and mostly funny and exactly the kind of thing elder millennials and their kids can enjoy together.
7
+Representation and overall tone
-Important things alluded to but left unsaid
Turning Red
Directed by Shi
With Chiang and Oh
Disney+, PG, 100 min.
