Disney released Pixar’s Turning Red exclusively on Disney+ on March 11, 2022. Immediately, it was both praised and criticized for the honest portrayal of its coming-of-age story. Some critics claimed this movie was not for everyone and that it would be uncommon for people to relate to it. Others said this is the most relatable movie ever made.
So, which is it?
Disney and Pixar have been major storytellers for decades and are no strangers to coming-of-age movies. Inside Out follows a young girl through a major point in her life as she grows into her emotions. Brave follows a young woman fighting for herself. The Lion King follows a young prince becoming a king. These movies are each from different decades, yet all share a common theme of growth.
So, what’s different about this one?
Turning Red follows a young girl, Meilin Lee, balancing pleasing her parents and living the typical teenager life with her friends. Its depiction of the reality of a teen girl in Toronto is pretty realistic, but every Pixar movie has some sort of fantastical element: this one is Mei turning into a giant red panda whenever she gets emotional. Naturally, chaos ensues when this happens for the first time, and she finds out some history about her family.
This awakens a rebel inside of Mei and she decides to use the panda to her advantage. She becomes more guarded from her parents and rebels against their wishes. She starts sneaking out and lying to her parents to have fun with her friends (and go to a 4 Town concert, which I think would resonate with the One Direction generation).
With this being the first Pixar movie with a leadership team consisting of all women, there is also more of a focus on the teen-girl (including friendships and emotions) aspect rather than just a more broad and more general focus on an ambiguous character. Therefore, there is more emphasis on her friendships and crushes, and there’s even a comedic scene with her mom thinking Mei got her period for the first time. With the female perspective being so prominent, some critics say that there is no way to relate and that this movie is only for a specific group of people. Some are even saying that this movie isn’t for kids because of the theme that Mei’s “panda problem” is similar to a period (even though the word ‘period’ is not uttered once) and that of rebelling and disobeying parents.
So, are the negative critiques…right?
For those who think that this movie is different from and more inappropriate than other Disney/Pixar movies, it would be important to look at other Disney/Pixar movies to see if this one is worse than the others. Riley in Inside Out runs away from her family. Merida in Brave fights for herself and what she believes in, disobeying the tradition of her family. Even Simba in The Lion King runs away and does not follow the path that was made for him by his family. This movie isn’t that different from any other movie from its company.
It seems that the critics are missing the point of the movie. It is the same as any other Disney/Pixar coming-of-age movie with even more heart. The audience can tell that this movie is a passion project for its creators. Viewers should ignore the harsh critiques that have been made and focus on the beautifully moving story within the newest Pixar movie.
Turning Red is now available to stream on Disney+