Turning Red

TURNING RED
2022 | Dir. Domee Shi | 100 Minutes

"We've all got an inner beast, we've all got a messy, loud, weird part of ourselves hidden away, and a lot of us never let it out, but I did. How about you?"

13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl Meilin "Mei" Lee balances school work, time spent with her friends, and time spent with her family seemingly with aplomb. However, when an ancient family curse catches up to her, transforming her into a giant red panda whenever she feels strong emotions, just as her favorite boy band comes to town, Mei must find her own way and either learn to suppress the beast within or embrace it.

Director Domee Shi's beautifully realized feature-length animated feature debut authentically encapsulates an unmistakably personal story that offers a specific point of view and subject matter that have never been depicted before in an animated film. On the surface, the body changing comedy featured in the plot is an obvious metaphor for puberty, but on a deeper level Turning Red is about embracing one's individuality, depicted in meticulous lovingly composed detail. The film presents the Chinese-Canadian teenage girl experience embellished with a humorous supernatural flourish but ultimately without compromise, and the picture is absolutely brilliant for its distinctive vision.

Turning Red is impeccable on a technical level, soundly maintaining the high visual standards of Pixar Animation Studios. The picture's 2002 Toronto setting is rendering in loving stylized detail from Mei's Chinatown home that doubles as family temple and tourist attraction to the famed SkyDome. The character designs for Mei, her alternate red panda form, her family, friends, and classmates are all unique and highly appealing. Ludwig Göransson's musical score employing the use of Chinese instruments, string orchestration, and hip hop beats is lovely and uplifting, supplemented by 4*Town boy band songs written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell that sound accurate to the era.

Rosalie Chiang is a natural fit playing Mei, expressing the alternating exuberance and body horror of the changing 13-year-old with impressive comic timing and heart. As Mei's mother, Sandra Oh brings dimensionality to the role that proves to be much more than the standard overbearing Chinese mother, convincingly exuding maternal love but also amusingly believable portraying a raging giant monster during the finale. Ava Morse, Hyein Park, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan are all excellent as Mei's best friends, each with standing out in their own way. The cast also features Orion Lee as Mei's father, Wai Ching Ho as Mei's grandmother, Tristan Allerick Chen as Mei's bully, and the indispensable James Hong as a local elder who moonlights as a Taoist priest.

Turning Red is a delightful tale that beautifully captures the specific experience of establishing one's own unique identity as a child of Asian descent growing up in North America, torn between the influences of the sometimes overbearing love of a Chinese family steeped in tradition and the indelible power of teenage friendship with Western kids. As an allegory for puberty, a young woman transforming into a giant red panda is hilariously on-the-nose, but the film is sweet, sincere and, above all, exceptionally authentic throughout.

POST-CREDITS STINGER
Mei's father privately jams to 4*Town alone in the basement.

A113
The chalk wheelbarrow Mei's father uses in the finale is labeled A113

PIXAR INTERCONNECTIVITY
- There is a Lightyear sticker on the bottom of Miriam's skateboard referencing the next Pixar film

- Bao's Restaurant seen in Toronto Chinatown is a reference to Domee Shi's award-winning directorial debut Pixar short film Bao

- The Pixar Ball can be seen in the pool at Tyler's birthday party

- The Pizza Planet truck can be seen on parked on the street when Mei races to the SkyDome just before the final act of the film

FRAGMENTS
- The body changing comedy of Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ is a clear influence on the premise of this general film

- Mei watching Cantonese costume period dramas with her mother is something I can specifically relate to directly as a Chinese-American

- The use of the Cantonese dialect, particularly the chant during the separation ritual, is impressive, and I'm blown away that a Cantonese language track for the entire film is available on Disney+