[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
Now Streaming on Disney+
When animated films want to take a risk with the content they are providing to viewers, I always find they know what they’re doing and can succeed. Even if they are run by the largest media conglomerate on the face of the planet who wants to censor particular areas of growth for their company. Pixar and Disney’s latest outing Turning Red takes a story about growing up and what it is like to transition from child to young adult and the choices we have to make in life.
Directed by Academy Award winner Domee Shi (director of the short film Bao), Turning Red is about 13-year-old Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang). She’s a spunky Canadian girl who hangs out with her friends, does her school work to please mom Ming (Sandra Oh), oogles over her favorite boy band and experiences the challenges of a teenage girl. These challenges include turning into a giant red panda. Meilin’s family has what she thinks of as a curse that whenever a girl comes of age, she will turn into a gracious red panda whenever she feels a bit too much emotion in her life. And for Meilin being a teenage girl, there is a LOT of emotion in her life. Now with this added pressure of having to remain calm lest give away her secret, but still work with her mother to control the panda, Meilin sets herself up to choose the emotions that will help her out in the end.
I appreciated a lot of what this film had to say. The name of the film has a double meaning and really works well with the theme of puberty and growing up. The internet has been up in arms saying that Pixar has downgraded themselves in terms of style of animation, and yet I never once thought this. In fact, a lot of it is nice smooth animation and scenes of the Panda add a layer of even more fun and enjoyment. Further scenes showing flashbacks to how Meilin’s ancestors called upon the panda are beautiful.
Go into this with an open mind. Disney is having a lot of trouble lately, but support the animators and production team who wanted to tell this story of a young girl growing up. We are lucky to at least have full access to this film as soon as possible. Everybody has to grow up and to see the challenges of finding your way in life and helping others around you helps us grow stronger together.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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