Review 643: Turning Red

If you wake up one morning and you discover that you've turned into a Giant Red Panda, that means you are going through a difficult stage in your life. How can Meilin “Mei” Lee balance out being a normal teenage girl 

 

Set in Toronto in 2002, Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who wakes up one morning, horrified to discover that whenever she gets too excited or stressed, she turns into a giant red panda; however, she can turn back if she remains calm. Mei later learns that her ancestors have a shared history with the species as a family curse, though the curse can be contained by performing a special ritual on a one specific night, which happens to coincide with a concert by her favourite boy band, 4*Town.

The fact that Mei turns into a red panda is very much presented as a metaphor for magical puberty.  Confronting coming-of-age themes of friendship, figuring out who you are and embracing that; throughout the film, we see young Mei determined to rid herself of this Panda which she see’s as a curse and an obstacle getting in the way of studies which really matter to her but slowly and gradually over the course of the film she starts to enjoy it and see it as a gift. 

 

The best Pixar films use fantastical constructions to explore very real issues. Inside Out and last years Luca did that to great effect and I'm happy to say that Turning Red. Now, I'm no teenage girl, but this film captures the exuberance and anxiety of being a 13 years old adolescent and that giddy, scary feeling that the world is spiralling under control. The film paints a picture of a girl who is caught between two worlds - childhood and adulthood. Tradition and Innovation 

 

At its most base level, Turning Red is about growing up and figuring out who you are and embracing that. Can Mei embrace this? Can she grow into even? Can she still love who she is knowing that she's become some that I'm not used to? Turning Red is animated with movie with coming of age themes but its more important elements are Female Friendships, Generational Struggles and Mother/Daughter relationships.  

Friendship: Turning Red also makes a good point of how important it is to have friends that support you and have your back. Once the cats out of the bag, Mei’s little posse of friends bring out the best of her “transformations” and help her realise the benefits of them and help her to see it more as a gift than a curse.

 

Generational Struggles: Throughout the film we see Mai  

 

Mother/Daughter relationships; the emotional core of the film is the relationship between Mei and her strict mother Ming (Sandra Oh) as Mei tries to live up to her seemingly impossible expectations and it shows how difficult it can be for mothers and daughters to each other as people who all share the same journey of self-discovery.

Writer/Director Domee Shi's animation direction is  the score by Ludwig Goransson is  the production desing is splendid, the early 00s Toronto setting is both vibrant and colourful, the animation is gorgeous and captures the bustling, busy, lively and hectic atmosphere of 2002 Toronto. The character design is fantastic

Newcomer Rosalie Chiang defiantly impressed playing Meilin Lee. Mai has an exuberant personality but is also well behaved and does what she's meant to do. When we first meet Mei, she’s presented as an overachiever, someone who’s absolutely keen to impress her mother and  She thinks she had everything under control then one morning she wakes up and discovers she's a giant, eight-foot-tall, fury, red panda and it completely changes everything for her.

 

Sandra "Critstina" Oh is  playing Mei's Ming  she is so focused on pushing she doesn't stop to think about what she might want from life because she, more often than not, she puts family and tradition before Mei's happiness.

Turning Red is a Beast of a film, 4.5/5.

The Anonymous Critic