Turning Red (unpublished!)

One of my favorite Pixar movies of all time is Inside Out, in part because of how deftly it uses metaphor and personification to tell a universally applicable and relatable story about growing up and the importance of emotional balance. Metaphor can be an excellent teacher if used correctly, but it can also be distracting if it is an extended one that is inconsistent. Like Inside Out, Pixar’s newest film, Turning Red, uses kid-friendly stand-ins to represent complicated issues, but while the movie is peppy, well-animated, and heartwarming, the metaphor at the heart of it all doesn’t make sense half of the time and has a tendency to distract rather than teach.  

                Turning Red is the story of Mei, a spirited Chinese-Canadian preteen that is starting to go through some changes. The changes she is experiencing are a little bit different than that of your typical thirteen-year-old, however-- every time her emotions get the better of her, she transforms into a giant red panda, as the result of a family curse. Luckily enough there’s a ritual to remove said curse, some lessons are learned on the way, and every one is better for the experience when the credits roll. It’s a very straightforward story with the lowest of stakes, but it is one that Pixar tells well for the most part. The animation, which is even more cartoony than usual and infused with an anime-esque energy, is wonderful, bright, and creative (which is no surprise, this being a Pixar film and all) and goes perfectly with the enthusiastic voice performances given by actors that include newcomer Rosalie Chiang and veteran Sandra Oh. Much like hanging out with an actual preteen, the style of the film does have a tendency to get exhausting after a while, however, and it sometimes feels like the filmmakers lean a bit too heavily on the hyperactivity for laughs, but there is no denying that Turning Red is overall a very aesthetically pleasing movie.  

                The themes the film explores are also welcome, but the metaphor of the red panda does not always work. At first the transformation is a clear stand-in for menstruation and puberty in general, but as the story moves on this metaphor becomes more and more muddied as it is used in situations that just don’t fit the initial meaning. This confused me and led me to get distracted as I tried to figure out just what the filmmakers were trying to say in any given scene. But to paraphrase Freud, maybe sometimes a giant red panda is just a giant red panda, and maybe I was trying to look into the deeper meaning of things a bit much? Possible, but I don’t think that’s really my fault when the initial metaphor is as blatant as the one given in Turning Red.   

                Confusing imagery aside, Turning Red is still a sweet and stylish movie that is more than worthy of being a part of Disney/Pixar canon. It’s no Inside Out or Toy Story, but it should do nicely if you’re bored and want to revisit what it was like to be a kid.  

                Turning Red is now available on Disney+.  

This review was not published in The Keizertimes for some reason. They did not tell me why.