Turning Red (2022)

 

Pixar already had a film about growing up, which is 'Inside Out', that beautifully captured what it must be like inside a child's brain when puberty starts to kick in. Now, they did something a bit similar with this story.

Okay, it's a lot similar, actually. It does have a unique Chinese influence, though. 

Meilin is a 13-year-old who is a bit of an overachiever. She is aces at school, works extremely hard and diligently and does everything she can to try and please her mom, who is rather strict and just wants Meilin to excel at everything. Of course, mom does tend to forget that Meilin is in fact only 13 years old and thus has very real teenage things on her mind, such as boys and swooning over the popgroup/boyband 4-Town. 

Naturally mom disapproves of such behaviour, because you need some conflict in your story, right?

But then it turns out that the ladies of the family all have the same curse: when they really hit puberty, extreme emotions make them turn into giant red pandas. Now who would have more extreme mood swings than a teenager?

Exactly. 

This does create some problems at first, but Meilin uses it to her advantage to raise money to go to a concert, but hiccups along the way and a quite unexpected (but not really) twist do tend to throw the proverbial spanners in the works.

Right off the bat: this film is a bit too on the nose at times. We get it: you change during puberty/growing up, and they made it quite literal here. Same goes for standing up to your parents and becoming your own person. We get it, no need to keep on hammering it in. And yes, the story is pretty much those tropes all over again.

So is 'Turning Red' worth watching?

Well, yes. It does get the entire teenage vibe pretty accurate, as anyone who regularly comes into contact with teenagers will attest to. Is it perhaps a little too girlie at times? Maybe. Are there a lot of clichés? Yes. Does it detract from the experience? Not entirely.

See, for all its flaws, 'Turning Red' can be a quite enjoyable watch and the focus on Chinese (in this case Cantonese) culture is something refreshing and even though most of the characters are a little stock, they can be fun. Meilin's girlfriends are a good example of exaggerated personalities used mainly for comedic effect, but darn: they do get some laughs in. 

It's not the worst Pixar by a mile, but it's also not one of their most excellent. A decent film that you can enjoy, but maybe not the most memorable one out there, nor one that effectively tugs at the heartstrings.