Turning Red is a hilarious and brilliantly creative film about a transformational moment for girls during adolescence. The movie uses a family secret as an allegory to mark the puberty stage in life. There should be no embarrassment or taboo attached to getting one’s first period. Adolescence is like being caught in a whirlwind of physical changes and emotions. Turning Red does this with CGI comedy, heart and all. Pixar has remained innovative.
Set in Toronto, Canada of 2002, Turning Red follows thirteen year old Meilin “Mei” Lee (Rosalie Chiang) who thinks she knows everything. If only Mei’s mother Ming (Sandra Oh) was not very rigid and demanding? Mei needs to hide her true feelings; she loves Devon (Addie Chandler), the cute checkout guy at the neighborhood drugstore more than anything else. She also wants to see the boy band 4-Town with her silly besties (Ava Morse, Hyein Park, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan).
Mei’s family operates a temple that does tours on their ancestors’ lives which feature prominently throughout their Chinese heritage. The red panda is their spiritual animal of choice. One embarrassing incident makes Mei feel terrible about herself. It leads to absolutely surprising emotions flooding over her inside suddenly. Whenever agitated, Mei transforms into a big red panda bear hence she gets angry easily;; initially seen as something bad but later turned out to be strength.. However, her mother hates it when it happens.
The themes are many for Turning Red that Domee Shi handles stealthily in this work of art: Mei’s Chinese roots largely contribute towards giving direction for her life decisions and choices; All Meilin has ever known is deference towards elders; This becomes difficult because foreigners are viewed as corrupting influences by moms; The more controlling Ming tries to be over every aspect of hew daughter’s life, the more rebellious she becomes; They visualize the red panda differently Et Tam Nguyen and Mei both grow up in this journey. The red panda visions are various for these two characters. When a child has to find themself, it is very scary for anyone who loves them. In addition, Ming also matures with her daughter’s development. These scenes stand out as some of the best written parts.
In her feature debut, director/co-writer Domee Shi, whose 2018 short film “Bao” won her an Oscar, is outstanding. Mei and her besties are hilarious nerds. As far as they concerned any step up or down by 4-Town was pure comedy gold. Silly teenage stuff is what Shi get completely right on in this case. Her naiveté about love and first crushes makes Shi a fantastic filmmaker who tackles menstruation without speaking it outright through any character’s mouth It is done through slapstick comedy and visual reference cues…This could be an ideal means to communicate with younger people directly.More than half of the population have periods It is not necessary to feel shame about something that is natural.
The animation of Turning Red is remarkable! Anime may be used in some instances to elicit specific reactions. Every time Mei and friends talk boys their eyes go all googly-eyed Domee Shi also does hard cuts when Mei gets naughty..These scenes differentiate from the red panda activity you saw earlier on…It shows how style can change within one movie hence gives viewers refreshed look.
Turning Red maintains its lightheartedness, unlike Up or Inside Out where you cannot help but cry throughout the movie.. It feels so good simply looking at Turning Red this way.A kid/family film that handles puberty so well just doesn’t come to mind at all in my opinion.
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