There’s a lot worth celebrating about Pixar’s latest. Turning Red is a delight. A bit wild and full of heart, it bounces along with the out-of-control energy of the early adolescence its depicts. When it pauses, it also offers a seriously touching snapshot of mums and their daughters, as well as a smart critique of why the burden of family expectations and the inevitability of teenage boundary-pushing usually results in trouble.
Its hero, Mei Lee (voiced by tweenage San Fran actor Rosalie Chiang), is just your average Toronto high-schooler coming of age in the early noughts: she’s acing her grades, is rendered dorky in public, gets regularly embarrassed by her strict and controlling mum (Sandra Oh), and has fun with her three girl pals.
Oh, and she “puffs” into a giant red panda whenever she gets excited or stressed. Which, being 13, is often.
The movie’s inner tension comes from the family problem that causes this transformation, and as it builds as Turning Red neatly expands its story to introduce a small posse of older characters onto the scene and a one-off shot at reversing it. But while not quite top-tier Pixar, Turning Red works so well because it makes Mei Lee’s panda-side all of a part with her teenage self. Her fury at the coming-of-age transformation is mostly directed at the prospect of missing the upcoming concert, rather than being transformed into a 10-foot furball against her will. The coming-of age metaphor harmonises perfectly with the narrative, just as it did in Inside Out. There’s an entertaining moment when the red panda transformation first strikes in the bathroom.
For all its CG bells and whistles – and the pandas are gorgeously realised, right down to their micro-detailed fur and blazing eyes – and the superstar songwriting chops of Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, who provide the tunes of the 4*Town band – it’s clearly a handwoven labour of love from Canadian-Chinese animator Domee Shi (Bao). As well as Pixar’s first solo female director, Shi has created the studio’s most diverse cast of characters to date.
Out now in UAE and KSA theatres.
