By: Jovia Zhang
On Friday, March 11th, 2022, the movie Turning Red was released on Disney Plus. Directed by Domee Shi, written by her and Julia Cho, distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and produced by Lindsey Collins and Pixar Animation Studios, the fantasy comedy film gets a 3/5 stars review from me.
The movie was both loved and hated by people for similar reasons. Some feel that the idea of showing how Mei, the main character, goes through adolescence is both inspiring and inappropriate. For me, the way that Mei wants to look perfect for her mother is both annoying and relatable. The way her mother causes rifts in their relationship is annoying to me, especially when she embarrasses her daughter in public. Misunderstandings are common in every relationship, but Mei’s mother almost purposely tries to cause them. I think that if she were to be a little easier on Mei from the beginning, it would have been easier to watch. Therefore, I rate this movie less than 5 stars.
Though Mei’s mom annoys me, I find Mei much more sympathetic. This may be due to the fact that we have similar ages and have the same cultural background. Sometimes I feel like I must be a perfect image of myself to make certain people happy, yet I have this totally-different personality that I’m afraid to let go. Likewise, Mei doesn’t ever show her other side to her family until she becomes a red panda. Although it would be better to be able to relate to an actual human, being able to relate to a cartoon character is close enough! Thus, I rate this movie more than 2 stars.
Turning Red isn’t the worst movie I’ve seen, but it isn’t the best. I think it’s in the middle for me because overall the movie was okay. It was only the fact that Mei’s life (before becoming a red panda) was a lot more relatable for me that made me want to give it more than 2 stars. Despite Mei’s annoying mother and all the other odd things in the movie, it’s fair to say that Turning Red is a pretty okay film.
While Turning Red isn’t necessarily the worst thing to watch, it also isn’t the best. From the main character’s aggravating mother to her understandable teenage life, I would only suggest watching it if you have nothing better to watch. Otherwise, don’t bother wasting your time on this film and go watch your favorite movie again.