EAT • SLEEP • REVIEW • REPEAT
TURNING RED
A transformative triumph.
Poor Pixar. After a string of sequels and uncharacteristically so-so efforts in the early to mid-2010s, there were more than a few suggestions that the legendary animation studio had lost its magic touch. It’s not an entirely unfounded accusation, as many of the films released around this time certainly felt below Pixar’s usual high standards, however, just as a new decade rolled around and the studio appeared to be turning a corner, a bloody pandemic happened and some of their most original content in years was swiftly shuffled away onto Disney+.
The situation was tough on everyone, of course, and Disney had to do what they felt best for their business, yet you can’t help but feel sorry for a studio that had, until then, been considered the absolute animation gold standard. With Soul, Luca, and now Turning Red all bypassing cinemas and heading straight to streaming, you’d be forgiven for thinking Pixar were a spent force, however, as evidenced with this latest effort, nothing could be further from the truth.
Torn between being her mother’s (Sandra Oh) dutiful daughter and embracing the chaos of adolescence, the life of 13-year-old Mei Lee (Rosalie Chiang) is about to get more awkward than ever when an unexpected hereditary phenomenon rears its colourful head. With her interests, body, and relationships all in flux, the last thing Mei needs is more uncertainty, yet when she suddenly finds herself transforming into a giant red panda whenever excited, her life looks set to change forever.
Perhaps one of the most frequently visited themes in animation history is the universal notion of finding yourself. Indeed, from Inside Out to Luca and so much in between, the notion of embracing who you are and the changes coming your way has been a key issue for Pixar since day one, yet they’ve never done it quite like this.
While it’s certainly not god-tier Pixar, Turning Red is nonetheless a triumph, one that marks a bold new direction for the studio and a melding together of familiar themes with refreshingly unfamiliar faces. Taking Mei’s transformations as a metaphor for puberty and running with it, the film folds in a particularly unique cultural aspect to offer something that feels fresh despite its narrative familiarities.
Centring on a young female Asian protagonist and rooting itself in Chinese folk law, Turning Red takes its broad themes and gives them a deeply personal spin that, while distinctly Pixar, pulls influence from far wider afield. In much the same way as recent efforts like Soul and Luca, Pixar has embedded itself deep into both its setting and the cultural background of its characters to deliver a story with personality and heart to spare.
Like the New York of Soul or Luca’s Riviera, both Toronto and the Chinese heritage of its characters are absolutely essential to Turning Red’s story, and the result positively bursts at the seams with character. While you may not actually be Chinese-Canadian or have ever been a boy band-obsessed, panda-morphing teenage girl, there is more than enough for you to take home from Turning Red, as it’s playful tone and universal coming-of-age themes will have you hooked from start to finish.
Echoing this, the film’s visual approach is a potent mix of Pixar’s iconic style and something a little different. The result feels utterly unique for a studio that has been constantly evolving for the best part of three decades now, and one that appears both warmly familiar and pleasingly boundary-pushing.
Irrepressibly bright and stuffed with pastel colours, the film is a fizzing ball of energy that has just as much in common with anime and Studio Ghibli than Pixar and Disney, and the result is an absolute one-of-a-kind delight. With exaggerated facial expressions, giant twinkling eyes, and an irrepressible energy, Turning Red combines classic Japanese anime hallmarks with a distinctly Western style to create a true animation smorgasbord.
While this unique, knowingly quirky animation style will undoubtedly ruffle the feathers of those pining for Pixar’s return to its classic visual approach, Turning Red’s determination to push the boundaries of their well-established style is highly commendable and points to both an intriguing path forward for the studio and a promising future for the film’s director.
Having worked in the background for Pixar since Inside Out, and coming in hot off the back of her directorial debut with one of Pixar’s finest shorts - Bao - Domee Shi opts for a profoundly personal approach here, as she digs deep for a story from the heart. Touching on both her heritage as a Chinese-Canadian and her experiences as a teenager growing up within that world, Shi has crafted one of Pixar’s most deeply personal films to date.
While Turning Red certainly doesn’t bring with it the kind of emotional devastation we’ve become accustomed to with Pixar, that doesn’t mean it’s any less affecting. The tumultuous-yet-loving relationship between Mei and her mother Ming certainly hits some touching beats, with the moving truths in Mei’s transformational journey more than enough for the story to hit its mark, however the film never quite goes for the emotional jugular in the way you might expect.
Between the overt puberty allegory and Mei’s reckonings with her family and heritage, Turning Red carries with it some serious thematic weight, yet the film never lets this overwhelm its energy or infectious sense of fun. From the off, the film clearly wants to have as much fun as possible with its premise, utilising the unique visual aspect of Mei’s red panda “poofing” to full effect, while making sure to capture the frenetic, anxious energy of her teenage life and the friends that populate it.
As a result, the plot itself is certainly on the light, somewhat predictable side, and the low-stakes nature of some of it does make you wish they had widened the scope a tad, however, the film’s breeziness feels like an inherent part of its appeal. In a similar approach to its Pixar predecessor – Luca – Turning Red just wants to have a bit of fun with us and sometimes that’s all you need, especially when aiming at a younger audience and conveying tricky themes not usually associated with such family-orientated animation.
Bright, breezy, and stuffed with heart, Turning Red is a beautifully animated, ground-breaking triumph that perfectly captures the frenetic anxieties of adolescence. While it never quite hits the devastating emotional punches we’ve come to expect from Pixar, the film’s heart-warming story, thematic weight, and cultural expansiveness more than make up for it. Both strikingly personal and utterly universal, Turning Red is a huge panda hug of a film, and a huge explosion of anxious teenage energy that marks another win for Pixar and another intriguing step in their ever-evolving transformation.
