Turning Red

The idea, the metaphor is not bad, coming of age or rather turning red (and honor your parents but stay yourself). Pixar production and graphics as good as ever. What is missing in the latest productions, in my opinion, is the genius of Pixar. They seem closer and closer to a typical Disney production, beautiful and musical but not brilliant.

This decline, I fear, may be due to an excess of production wanted by the Disney company, and I understand it but, there is a big difference between a tailor's shop and an industrial distribution of clothing.

Although I am an adult (and perhaps for this reason), I loved Pixar because in the past its target has never been solely that of children, they have included adults. Outstanding Pixar movies like "Wall-e", "Up", "Inside / Out", "Coco", "Finding Nemo" and Dory, also "Soul", even more than the still wonderful "The Incredibles", "Toy Story", "Ratatouille" , "Cars" etc. They bring with them messages, often moving, that do not concern only our children but also adults. Indeed, some messages are not immediately understandable by a very child / adolescent audience but they leave the fun to them anyway. In fact liked these movies as much as my son did.

This latest movie as well as "Brave", to a lesser extent also "Luca", show a slight flattening to Disney standards which I'm not saying are bad but they lack that typical modern tell and sneaky, Pixar genius.

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"Turning Red is undoubtedly the riskiest, possibly the most divisive work in Pixar history. Without any remorse or restraint, Domee Shi and Julia Cho unapologetically approach the sensitive topic of (female) puberty in a quite shocking, positively impactful manner.

A narrative that unquestionably explores the hormonal, emotional, and sexual developments of its characters, conveying a message of self-acceptance and understanding of human evolution through its metaphors loaded with youthful excitement.

With the well-known technical attributes from the successful studio, this film will serve as an essential companion for all pre-teens who will deal with or are going through this inevitable and "inconvenient" phase of life.

One of the best movies of the year until this day."

Rating: A-

My oldest daughter was thrilled as we watched "Turning Red", as she really could relate to the main character, Mei and her struggles with the emergence of puberty. It's something that might make many men uncomfortable...but it IS a part of life that has long been ignored in movies. So, while the film is clearly a metaphor for a girl's first period, it's pretty amazing that any film would talk about this in any way....and my advice to guys is just accept it and enjoy the story. As a father with two daughters, I got over my fears of female sexuality and puberty long ago....and like the film seems to say, it's NOT a curse or something that should be a taboo.

Mei Lin is an 8th grader whose transition to puberty is MUCH worse than she could have imagined. This is because party of puberty is also the onset of a family curse (or gift...depending how you look at it). What is the curse? Well, when women from this Chinese-Canadian family lose their emotional control, they literally become giant red pandas. Now red pandas are about the cutest animals on the planet, but a 7 foot (or larger) red panda is difficult to explain!! The film is about Mei Lin's struggle...as well as how her mother and extended family also struggle with this beast within them.

As you'd expect from Pixar, the animation is lovely and the film looks pretty. I also appreciated the daring plot. My only regret is that the first half of the story is great...the last half is a bit formulaic...especially the big confrontation scene between Mei Lin and her mother at the stadium. It's not at all bad....just a bit disappointing. Overall, it's a film girls will adore and guys will like IF they let themselves appreciate and aren't afraid to see a film about girls' first period.

I can recognize myself in a lot of Mei's experiences and learned something new about them as well. There are not a lot of movies that normalize other significant parts about puberty like periods and understanding your parents, but this one does and they do it perfectly. Even for those watching who cannot relate to Mei's experience, it's a great watch to see where she and other girls may be coming from.

In the latest Pixar movie, Rosalie Chiang voice a 12-year-old girl in Toronto in 2002. She is the daughter of a tiger mother, has nervous breakdowns when she comes in second in spelling bees, and is securely under the thumb of her mother -- voiced by Sandra Oh -- although she adores a boy band, of which her mother severely disapproves. But being at that age, she finds a change in her body: under great emotional stress, she turns into a giant red panda. This turns out to be true of all the women in her family.

In what may be described as 'fantasy autobiography' -- the director was born in China, moved to Canada at 2, and was twelve for most of 2002 -- we see the expected Pixar combination of technical excellence -- the red panda looks like a plush doll, with every one of its million or two hairs carefully drawn -- and story telling. It hews a little too closely between its literal and figurative meaning -- we're dealing with menarche in some form -- with jokes about her mother bringing tampons and similar products to school, embarrassing the protagonist. But I laughed out loud and leaked some tears, and what more can you demand of any movie?