Review of Turning Red (2022) by Soulwarfare — 12 Mar 2022

Pixar returns with another movie that is, unfortunately, going straight to Disney+ with little recognition or fanfare about it. Pixar movies were usually the animated movies that everyone was talking about but I barely heard anyone talk about this one. The premise is "Mei Lee is a 13-year-old girl who is torn between being her mother's obedient daughter and the chaos of her youth. As if that were not enough, when she gets too excited, she turns into a big red panda". Is this a sleeper hit or is this going to be a Pixar movie people forget?

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. This movie is visually great with its phenomenal animation. The character designs, the city and the panda itself are all wonderfully pleasant. There is a lot of anime-inspired influences within the film and it certainly shows in the visuals. It's a mostly grounded movie but when the magical stuff happens, the usual Pixar magic occurs and it is great! For example, there is a nightmare sequence and it is just ridiculously weird, which I love. The cinematography is great as usual with some stellar shots. Ludwig Göransson who is the music composer for Black Panther, Tenet and The Mandalorian is composing for Turning Red (2022). He does a good job with his utilization of Chinese wind instruments, which helps capture the feel of the film. There is also a music segment that combines Cantonese chants with a pop song and Ludwig is somehow able to make that work!

Turning Red is a coming of age story which has been overdone and it is also obvious from the first 10 minutes what the message at the end is going to be. Yet despite that, I came out enjoying the story and being completely satisfied by where the characters end up. The main character, Mei, and her relationship with her mother is the heart of the film. It's a good focus as I found their love for each other very heart-warming. Thus, when there is a conflict between them, it is genuinely quite sad to see which shows how effective the movie was. Likewise, the friendship between Mei and her friends is also very touching. It's also the first Pixar film to focus on Asian culture which I appreciate. There isn't a lot of western films that focus on Asian culture so it was nice that Pixar was willing to do so. It does have a lot of Asian culture in it but I don't think it ever gets to the point that it isolates non-Asian's enjoyment of it.

However, the humour is very cringy and not funny whatsoever. The voice performance of the main character Mei is also a bit of mix bag as she has the same tone in every scene.It is also difficult to connect with the main character because she is so hyperactive and obsessed with boys which makes it hard to sympathize or root for her.

Overall, I am glad that Pixar tried to do something unique. It has a heart-warming family story in it that is unfortunately squandered by how the main character is written. It's great that Asians are getting more representation in western movies but I don't think this was the exact right approach. It is still an enjoyable coming of age story and I think the good elements outweigh the weird negatives of Turning Red.