Turning Red Movie Review: Domee Shi Delivers Pixar's Most Vibrant and Innovative Coming-of-Age Story Yet! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Turning Red Movie Review: Pixar at this point have perfected themselves in delivering animated films that transcends the genre. With huge hits like Wall-E, Up and Ratatouille, Pixar over the last decade has continued to deliver us IP’s with some really innovative ideas attached to them. Turning Red is another great entry in their catalogue of movies that not only provides something unique with its storytelling, but also its animation. Turning Red: Early Reactions Call Pixar's Latest a Great Coming-of-Age Tale That Doesn't Shy Away From Topics!

Set in Toronto, Turning Red follows a 13-year-old girl named Meilin “Mei” Lee. One morning, she finds herself to be turned into a giant red panda, and discovers her family heritage and why she has this curse. The movie also explores the relationship between Mei and her mother Ming, and has some really deep, underlying themes that compliments the story very well.

Starting off with what really pulled me into the movie was its art style. Pixar by now has perfected in delivering animation that looks extremely crisp and give the environments a photo realistic feel. This was quite evident with Toy Story 4, so where do you go from there? Well you can’t exactly outdo that but rather try something different, and that’s exactly what Pixar does.

Soul and Luca to some extent still had some photo realistic elements to them, but Turning Red really embraces its animation roots. The realization of Toronto over here makes it seem unlike any city we have seen in animation before. The character designs too look amazing and fit well within the world, especially that of Mei’s Red Panda form. It has this sense of 3D animation mixed in with some anime-like elements that really help give this movie a personality.

The colours pop to reveal something extremely eye-catching and every part of this world is filled with so much detail that makes it come alive. To say it’s a treat to the eyes is an understatement.

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Turning Red also packs in a story that has some really deep underlying themes. With it being a coming-of-age movie, director Domee Shi navigates around the struggles of a child growing up, and it does so by turning our protagonist into a Red Panda. There are amazing themes of growing up, how much should a parent be involved in a child’s life and there are many conversations about boundaries, but it doesn’t shy away from some pretty heavy topics too.

The concept of puberty and what a child goes through during such a phase is explored in Turning Red, and it’s unapologetic in its portrayal of it. It’s so refreshing to see a movie tackle these themes without having to mask them under layers of fluff to the point they aren’t visible. It is really a great representation of those themes, and it all works in part due to the writing and the performances of its cast.

Rosalie Chiang brings Mei to life with this brimming and exciting performance that showcases the excitement of childhood. The way she navigates her voice to portray the perfect portrayal of how it feels like having a crush on someone, or how you react when your favorite band is going to hold a concert in your town, that’s something extremely well done here.

Mei’s relationship with her mom Meiling, who is wonderfully portrayed by Sandra Oh, is also a high point of the plot. With her mom also being a Red Panda, they share a bond over here that leads into the conflict of the movie. It really showcases well how boundaries need to be maintained between parents and children, and Turning Red provides a great case for it. Growing up myself in a similar household, it was really fun to see something like this showcased in such a big film.

Mei's group of friends from her school is another thing that really stands out. It adds another note of relatability to Turning Red. The group and the dynamic among them is extremely sweet and adds such a nice sense of chemistry and wholesomeness, that it’s hard not to smile whenever they are on screen. Soundtrack is also exciting and adds a nice sense of pop to the scenes.

Another thing I want to touch upon is representation. Chinese culture is widely represented in this movie, but it goes beyond that too. Turning Red is brimming with culture at every corner. It’s something that was really heartwarming to see. I myself being a Punjabi, on many occasions saw Sardars in the movie. It felt nice seeing Sikh and Punjabi representation in a Pixar movie and brought a smile to my face.

If there was a criticism I had relating to this movie, all I would have to say is that the ending just didn’t feel as emotionally resonating when compared to other Pixar films. While the ending does pack in a spectacle and wraps up things quite nicely, it did still feel lacking in some emotional aspects. It didn’t have that oomph to it. But other than that, Turning Red still manages to deliver a satisfying conclusion. The Batman Movie Review: Matt Reeves & Robert Pattinson Deliver the Definitive Version of DC’s Dark Knight! (LatestLY Exclusive). 

Yay!

Art Style

Characters

Representation

Nay!

Ending Can Feel a Bit Lacking

Final Thoughts

Domee Shi delivers a great, fantastical film that is the year’s most heartwarming film. Featuring a great voice cast filled with beautiful and colourful characters, Turning Red secures itself among Pixar’s best movies. Turning Red releases on Disney+ Hotstar on March 11, 2022.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 07, 2022 08:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).