The girl is now a lady…panda: A review of ‘Turning Red’ (Sabong News)
Author
Philip Cu Unjieng
Date
MARCH 09 2022
With Turning Red, Pixar/Disney offers something that’s actually new for the animation studio. In the past, we’ve had buddy films (Toy Story, and Finding Nemo), and adventure tales that take on the Great Beyond or our inner selves (think of Up, Coco, Inside Out & Soul). But Turning Red is a coming-of-age story that’s set in Toronto, around 2002, and it’s centered on a girl’s coming-of-age and hitting puberty – but of course, as seen and refracted through the unique Pixar prism.
If you have to relate it to any of the previous Pixar films, I’d even say it’s most closely aligned with last year’s Luca, with that awkward age of finding one’s identity and true self, and how confusing and problematic the world can be during those early teen years. As it won’t be a spoiler to anyone who has watched the trailer; I’ll say here that this one keeps pretty realistic about the issues surrounding puberty; except for the one gargantuan premise that when Meilin (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), the ‘dorky but owning it’ academic over-achiever, wakes up screaming one morning, it’s because she’s turned into a giant red panda.
Of course her Mom (Sandra Oh) at first assumes that the screaming and anxiety is because the ‘red peony has bloomed’, their poetic way of referring to menstruating. With a year that was so securely set as one devoted to excelling in her studies, taking care of her Tamagotchi, and listening to boy bands, Mei now faces social ostracizing, and deep humiliation over her transformation into a panda. And what’s nice about the screenplay is how Mei eventually owns this new identity.
I mentioned 2002 & boy bands; so look out for the original songs created especially for this film by Billie Eilish and Finneas. They echo the music of that era in a good way. In fact, this element of nostalgia, and the 2002 time location should be very popular to those in their early thirties – especially girls who were 12 or 13 back in 2002.
Rosalie Chiang and Director Domee Shi.
Directed by Domee Shi, who gave us the Oscar-winning animated short Bao, Turning Red knows how to throw punchy surprises and visual delights to keep us engrossed. There’s a strong pink pastel sheen to the animation, coupled with face filter emoji reactions, and anime-type speed lines.
A trio of Meilin’s besties, Miriam, Priya and Abby, provide more than able support in keeping the animated action flowing, with great camaraderie, jokes, asides and patter. And I don’t know about you, but I’d pick Abby as the funniest. If this was a live action film, Abby would be scene stealer ‘numero uno’, and earn a Best Supporting Actress nomination. As it is, the friendship between the four become a great example of young sisterhood, and even testing that friendship.
In terms of a bigger picture, the film works as an engrossing, and enlightening, dialogue between generations of Asian women trying to make it in the West, and finding their voices. There is a middle portion that meanders, but the last twenty minutes of the film effectively ‘rights the ship’, and it’s brought home with valor. A successful excursion into this coming-of-age genre by Pixar.
