“Turning Red” is a coming of age film produced by Pixar and released on February 21st, 2022. It follows the main character Mei Mei, a middle school student living in Toronto, Canada, set in the year 2002. Her family runs a shrine giving tours to guests which is their main source of income. The shrine itself is based around worshiping their ancestors who are linked to red pandas.
Their ancestor, Sun Yee, asked the gods to grant her the power of the red panda to protect her family and village. This gift was passed down to the women of the family, when they come of age these powers awaken within them.
While this may sound cool, in modern day it can be very inconvenient. Mei learns this as she has to come to terms with her new ability while also juggling being a young woman going through puberty.
This film is heavily centered around growing up as a young girl and some of the fun and less fun aspects of this. Such as liking things that are considered cringy, in the movie the heavy focus is boy bands, or having crushes.
One of the main critiques about this movie is people saying that it’s a cute film but it’s so cringy and uncomfortable having to hear about young girls and their struggles.
CK students have their own thoughts to share about the film.
“It was very real and I enjoyed it alot,” Ozzy had this to say about the film. “I didn’t hear that everything I heard was overwhelmingly positive.”
“I liked the movie, the art style was very cute, the character moments were deep and fluid.” When asked about the film Joshua Lynch had that to say.
“I think those people were very strung up and don’t wanna see a movie that deals with real people,” He continued on when asked about the negative reviews. “And they don’t wanna see a movie that tells their kids it’s ok and that it is realistic.”
These reviews seem to be unjustified because the entire point of the movie itself is to showcase being a young teen. Of course this includes being cringy and weird because they are young they are still learning about who they are. The red panda transformation in the film is a great way to show the struggles of self acceptance and how it can affect someone’s day to day life, especially as a young girl.
Turning red is an adorable film and is definitely worth watching if you can find the time.
