Turning Red is Turning Heads
**Written back in 2022 as a school project**
Turning Red is the film I needed when I was a 13 year old girl. In combination between Disney and Pixar, directed by Domee Shi and released on March 11th, 2022 straight to Disney+, Turning Red understands what it means to be a teenage girl. A film with a heartwarming story, full of Canadian references, catchy music and colourful animation, this film has something everyone can enjoy.
I also believe the collaboration between Disney and Pixar for this movie was a smart move because Pixar is what allows Disney to make movies about topics that are usually taboo. Think Inside Out (2015) and Soul (2020), these movies deal with heavy topics about dealing with emotions and finding purpose in your life. It’s not surprising that a film about growing up and exploring who you are comes next in the Pixar and Disney repertoire.
Turning Red follows Meilin “Mei Mei” Lee (Rosalie Chiang), a 13 year-old Chinese-Canadian girl who is doing her best to please everyone around her. She finds out after an embarrassing incident involving her overprotective mother Ming (Sandra Oh), and the 17 year-old cashier at the Daisy-Mart, that when expresses strong emotions she turns into a red panda. This is a generational curse that all the women in her family get, tracing all the way back to her ancestor, Sun Yee. When her parents suggest isolation as the best way to control her changing, her friends Mariam (Ava Morse), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Abby (Hyein Park) visit her and find out her secret. Meilin realizes that her friends are the only ones that are able to calm her down when she is in her red panda/emotional state. She convinces her parents that she is able to go to school with her panda under control. Learning that their favourite band 4*Town is coming to Toronto, Meilin and her friends find a way to raise money by selling merch and taking pictures with the other students under the guise that she’s at an after school extracurricular. Almost raising enough money, her bully Tyler, asks Meilin if she can come to his birthday so that everyone will show up. Meilin agrees as they strike a deal that will give her and her friends enough money to go see 4*Town. After the overbearing grandmother and aunts show up, Meilin sneaks out to the party and loses control at Tyler. Realizing that the 4*Town concert and the red moon ritual, the ritual that seals the red panda inside Meilin forever, Meilin struggles with the desire to keep her panda. After the ritual goes wrong, Ming loses it and unleashes her inner red panda and chases after Meilin who is headed to the concert. Ming destroys the concern and almost loses herself in the process after being saved by Meilin and the women in the family unleashing their red pandas as well. Meilin decides to be a trailblazer in her family, keeps her red panda and adjusts to life being completely herself.
This movie would have been very immersive on the big screen and I wish it was released in theatres rather than just being put on Disney+. Although, it is the perfect movie to throw on the tv and watch with friends and reminisce about your teenage days. I also do appreciate the fact that it was not put behind a paywall like other highly anticipated movies that are put on Disney+ like Mulan (2020) and Black Widow (2021). The colourful animation shows the drama and expressions it takes to be a 13 year old with cute nods to anime, through sparkles and overly expressive eyes. Seen here in this image when Meilin is looking at her crush. The mix of animation styles is also absolutely breathtaking when they go back in history to explain Meilin’s lineage. Seen in this second image when Ming is explaining the history of how the women in her family got the red panda trait, it feels reminiscent of traditional Asian art. The mix of animation styles make it a very captivating movie to watch. When something is captivating to watch, the sound needs to go along with as well. The music in Turning Red does not take away from the expressive animation but also adds to it. Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, the music is super catchy and perfectly captures the early 2000s essence. Replicating their own boyband the music sounds like modern day Backstreet Boys and NSYNC which is a good touch for a film set in 2002 but released 20 years later in 2022. The film’s pacing is perfect as it does not feel too long but also builds up the story enough to understand the conflict between Meilin and her mother, Ming.
There have been issues with Disney movies in the past and people of colour turning into other things, it has been reconciled in Turning Red. With The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Soul (2020), the main characters do not get to stay in their human body for long. For Meilin it is a choice she gets to make and embrace throughout the entire film and definitely a metaphor for growing up. Even though the film talks about getting your period and does not make it a shameful thing. This allows for girls to have open discussions and not be ashamed of a natural bodily function. This film has also been criticized for not being “relatable” enough, which I have to disagree with. Even though I am not Chinese-Canadian in the early 2000s, I am a Canadian woman of colour who related to the pressure of family dynamics and understood that being a teenager is weird, confusing, emotional and also the perfect time to explore who you are. Also as a Canadian I love the references to Tim Hortons, the CN Tower and the Sky Dome (now the Rogers Centre). It is good to see Toronto as Toronto in a film when Toronto is usually disguised as something else in mainstream Hollywood, even if it is animated. I’ll take Canada wherever I can get it.
Overall, Turning Red feels like a nostalgic return to the Disney Dream factory. Centering a Chinese-Canadian girl who needs her friends to balance the pressure of being perfect, the colourful animation and music make this movie feel like Disney is returning to its roots. With a touch of nostalgia as well. I recommend this film to anybody and everybody who wants to feel seen and understood when it comes to the desire to be perfect for your family. A strong message with bright colours and great music round this film out so that the message does not come across as too cheesy. If I had to rate this movie I would give it 5/5 stars.
Where to Watch: Disney+