Turning Red Offers a Fresh, Cleverly Fun, and Heartfelt Perspective On Growing Up

      One of the more intriguing aspects of animated films is not only their ability to entertain and enchant audiences, but also in delivering empowering messages to young children. Recently, Disney and Pixar has taken an admirable approach to exploring different cultures along with expanding the diversity of their films with recent efforts including Coco, Soul, Luca and now Turning Red continuing that trend as a story that offers a fresh, fun perspective on growing up. 

      Turning Red's plot focuses on 13-year-old Mei whose torn between being her mother's obedient daughter and being a typical teenage girl. To make matters worse, she experiences a family curse that transforms her into a large red panda if become too excited. As expected, Turning Red carries both the heart the charm that accompanies a traditional Pixar release with themes which feel universal in reaching a broad audience. The film is one that doesn't shy away from exploring a young woman's journey to becoming her true self while contending with family expectations. While it's main storyline feels reliant on previously established formulaic structures of past Disney films, Turning Red uses those familiar beats to its advantage and crafts a family-friendly experience that encourages young children to not just honor their parents but also themselves.

      When it comes to voice acting, Turning Red's cast deliver phenomenal work with everyone bringing something personal to the story. Rosalie Chiang is terrific as young Mei, who beautifully conveys her characters dilemma of trying to make her parents proud while experiencing a sudden transformation that's been handed down from generation to generation. Chiang's performance is the heart of the story with her crafting a character, who feels relatable to millions of young women. Sandra Oh does a fantastic job as Mei's strict and overprotecting mother, Ming who demands much from her daughter while becoming obsessive in protecting her from the family curse. Both Chiang and Oh deliver strong chemistry with audiences buying into their testy mother and daughter relationship. The rest of the voice cast deliver noteworthy work including Orion Lee as Mei's quiet yet supportive father Jin who provides a stunning contrast to her mother, Ava Morse as Mei's best friend and singing tomboy Miriam, Maitreyi Ramakrishna as Mei's deadpan friend, Hyein Park as aggressive and energetic Abby, Wai Ching Ho as Mei's grandmother Wu, and legendary actor James Hong as local elder and trained shaman Mr. Gao. As a whole, Turning Red's cast does a fine job of injecting charm and humor into the film along with bringing characters to life whom the audience can connect with.

      Directed by Domee Shi in her feature directorial debut, Shi does an admirable job of supplying the film with animation that's beautiful, crisp, and bright for audiences, even if the background designs and characters possess a more cartoonist feel to them than some of Pixar's newer films. Mei's Red Panda comes across as looking like a giant fluffy stuffed animal that's too adorable for audiences not to fall in love with. As with any other Pixar animated film, Turning Red's story remains fast-paced with a brilliantly assembled soundtrack including the likes of Billie Eilish, Finneas O' Connell for the films songs, and Ludwig Goranssin for the scores composed pieces which enhance the stories emotional core. Although nothing shown in Turning Red appears to be groundbreaking in a technological sense, Shi does an impressive job of crafting what feels like an old school Pixar story that would've fit right at home in the 1990's, and making it visually appealing while feeling personal. 

      Some of the themes explored with Turning Red's screenplay include ancestry, family, being oneself, learning to control emotions, and growing up with the story being one that revolves around a mother- and-daughter relationship that's put to the test when a family curse takes effect. Within Red's script also lies an unusual coming-of-age tale about a young girl desiring the independence to be the person she wants to be rather than what her parents want. The whole subplot involving Mei's character transforming into red panda when becoming too excited serves as a metaphor for puberty with adolescence being the heart of the action. The script also contains references including the mentioning of periods, and Mei's friends discussing the attractiveness of popular singers. While the story doesn't encourage the disobeying of parents wishes, it pushes curiosity, compassion, and the maintaining of self-control while promoting the importance of having honest conversations with children regarding bodily changes. Along with those, Red's script also stresses the need for close friends and adults whom children can trust while emphasizing the consequences of withholding secrets and lying. What makes the writing  effective is how well-layered its script appears to be with the covering of all major issues regarding teenage youth, while painting a respectful image of Chinese family culture despite Mei's mother portrayed as  being the tiger mom, who ultimately accepts her daughters change due to her own transformational experiences. Though the stories culture is Chinese/Canadian based, its themes and metaphors are universal enough for audiences of different backgrounds to find relatability with Mei's transformational experience.

      Of all the films Pixar's made thus far, Turning Red stands as being the most teen friendly while being completely unapologetic in its exploring of teen adolescence and bodily changes. Although some parents may take issue with some of the films topics, it handles them in a way that's both funny  and empowering for young audiences. Despite its plot-structure feeling similar to other Pixar films like having the main character opening and closing the story with a narration explaining what they learned from their experience or them losing the support of both family and friends only to win them back later on with the parents realizing that they were too hard on their kids (Encanto for example), Turning Red makes effective use of its familiar beats while providing a new kind of children's story that's fresh, well-intentioned, and ultimately memorable with its heartfelt message about accepting change and being oneself.

Final Verdict: For Pixar fans, Turning Red is a must see. 

Images Courtesy Of Disney And Pixar