When I first saw Disney and Pixar's Turning Red advertised, I thought it would be a really cute film given the main character's red panda transformation, and when I watched it, I definitely wasn't disappointed. The setting is Toronto, Ontario, Canada back in 2002, with Meilin Lee being a model middle schooler, Chinese-Canadian, who one night has a fitful sleep and awakens to an adorable yet inconvenient family curse where, whenever she shows strong emotions, she "poofs" into a giant red panda, and seeks ways to find acceptance among society and her family. There's a lot of subtle humor about female periods and such that I thought was genuinely funny, and despite being male, I could really relate given my familial issues.
Mei ultimately learns how to control her abilities, and to her mother's chagrin wants to attend a concert of her and her friends' favorite band, 4*Town, using her red panda cuteness to raise money. Turning Red seems to take inspiration from other media like King Kong, Godzilla, and The Incredible Hulk, especially towards the end, with a twist about the 4*Town concert date. I'll admit I'm not a huge Pixar fan, but Turning Red was probably their best film in my book, but it certainly won't appeal universally to boys and men and likely won't get any continuation due to its box office flop status (given its release during the coronavirus crap), and Disney's recent decision not to do streaming spinoffs of its media.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
| The Bottom Line | |
| One of Pixar's best films. | |
 |
|