Turning Red

My oldest daughter was thrilled as we watched "Turning Red", as she really could relate to the main character, Mei and her struggles with the emergence of puberty. It's something that might make many men uncomfortable...but it IS a part of life that has long been ignored in movies. So, while the film is clearly a metaphor for a girl's first period, it's pretty amazing that any film would talk about this in any way....and my advice to guys is just accept it and enjoy the story. As a father with two daughters, I got over my fears of female sexuality and puberty long ago....and like the film seems to say, it's NOT a curse or something that should be a taboo.

Mei Lin is an 8th grader whose transition to puberty is MUCH worse than she could have imagined. This is because party of puberty is also the onset of a family curse (or gift...depending how you look at it). What is the curse? Well, when women from this Chinese-Canadian family lose their emotional control, they literally become giant red pandas. Now red pandas are about the cutest animals on the planet, but a 7 foot (or larger) red panda is difficult to explain!! The film is about Mei Lin's struggle...as well as how her mother and extended family also struggle with this beast within them.

As you'd expect from Pixar, the animation is lovely and the film looks pretty. I also appreciated the daring plot. My only regret is that the first half of the story is great...the last half is a bit formulaic...especially the big confrontation scene between Mei Lin and her mother at the stadium. It's not at all bad....just a bit disappointing. Overall, it's a film girls will adore and guys will like IF they let themselves appreciate and aren't afraid to see a film about girls' first period.

It's 2002 Toronto. Meilin is a 13 year-old Chinese-Canadian girl on the verge of adulthood. Her family cares for their temple honorable their ancestor who turned into a red panda to defend her family. One morning, she wakes up to find herself transformed into a red panda.

This is a coming-of-age story from Pixar. It's fun. I love the characters. There is a realism in these characters. They feel very authentic. Aside from the supernatural, this is really a story of a girl trying to find her way through puberty and dealing with her mother-daughter relationship. There are no big name actors other than Sandra Oh which does give this a feeling of non-Hollywood. The Toronto locations are also part of that. This has plenty of fun while dealing with some real tween issues.

There's a reason this movie is a PG and not a U! Everyone having a little turn because a 13 year old girl is given some maxi pads and has crushes on boys - it's not woke, it's reality.

And if you have a problem with characters wearing turbans/hijabs, then I really think you need to look deep inside yourself!

This movie doesn't feel like a Disney/Pixar because it's cringey and has anime elements - but it's still fun, and my 10 and 8 year old boys had no problem at all with seeing sanitary protection because guess what, they see it in our bathroom every day!

In the latest Pixar movie, Rosalie Chiang voice a 12-year-old girl in Toronto in 2002. She is the daughter of a tiger mother, has nervous breakdowns when she comes in second in spelling bees, and is securely under the thumb of her mother -- voiced by Sandra Oh -- although she adores a boy band, of which her mother severely disapproves. But being at that age, she finds a change in her body: under great emotional stress, she turns into a giant red panda. This turns out to be true of all the women in her family.

In what may be described as 'fantasy autobiography' -- the director was born in China, moved to Canada at 2, and was twelve for most of 2002 -- we see the expected Pixar combination of technical excellence -- the red panda looks like a plush doll, with every one of its million or two hairs carefully drawn -- and story telling. It hews a little too closely between its literal and figurative meaning -- we're dealing with menarche in some form -- with jokes about her mother bringing tampons and similar products to school, embarrassing the protagonist. But I laughed out loud and leaked some tears, and what more can you demand of any movie?

I can recognize myself in a lot of Mei's experiences and learned something new about them as well. There are not a lot of movies that normalize other significant parts about puberty like periods and understanding your parents, but this one does and they do it perfectly. Even for those watching who cannot relate to Mei's experience, it's a great watch to see where she and other girls may be coming from.