Turning Red is Pixar’s 25th and latest film, with a feature directorial debut for Domee Shi, after helming one of Pixar’s best ever shorts in 2018, Bao. It centres on 13 year old Mei, who is experiencing the awkwardness of her teenage years with an added struggle- whenever she gets too excited, she turns into a giant red panda.
It’s no secret that Pixar of recent years aren’t hitting the heights they did in the earlier days, where the quality and originality of ideas was just off the scale, with the likes of the Toy Story trilogy, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles just to name a few. In the recent years though, I was also a big fan of Toy Story 4 and Onward, but the misses are definitely becoming more regular in my view. Cars 3, Soul, and Luca were all pretty lacklustre to me, and I was hoping Turning Red would be a return to form, but sadly it wasn’t the case for me.
Fundamentally, while there are some classic Pixar themes at play, specifically the idea of change and coming of age, they just didn’t really connect with me. That’s not to say that there aren’t relatable elements, there definitely are, such as Mei working hard to please her overprotective mother, Ming, while simultaneously hiding her crushes for boys and her desire to sneak out to see her favourite band, which so much of the movie is focused on. Turning Red definitely does effectively nail down the idea that some childhood things, which seem minor when you look back as an adult, are everything to you at the time. But beside this relatable aspect, I did think the film played it very safe. It dips its toe into the coming of age theme, getting some parts right but ultimately taking very few risks, seemingly very content with just being a pretty by the numbers fluffy creature feature. The conflict with between Mei and her mother Ming started off really well and had potential, but then about half an hour in just gets abandoned almost completely, shying away from any meaningful relationship between the two and relieving a lot of possible tension and consequence. Linking to this, there was never any contrast or character arc with Mei’s group of friends either, the same beats were just repeated over and over. While they started off as quite fun and quirky, as the runtime went on they just became quite annoying and obnoxious. While I liked that they were a very supportive friend group, there really wasn’t much to them other than being loud and shouting, and as far as side characters go I thought they were pretty bland, forgettable and one dimensional.
One obvious positive I do want to quickly mention though is the animation, which shouldn’t be overlooked just because we’ve gotten used to Pixar’s very high standards aesthetically. As always its a beautifully vibrant film, with a great blend of realistic details even in some of the fantastical settings.
Despite the obvious style though, Turning Red just didn’t have enough substance for me overall. While Pixar obviously aren’t in their prime anymore, I still can’t help but get excited for each new film they do, since they made some of my favourite films of all time, animated or otherwise, when in their heyday, but unfortunately this one was a definite disappointment for me. A very paint by numbers and low stakes plot, and ultimately the characters just aren’t endearing or interesting enough to carry a largely mundane narrative. While its heart is definitely in the right place, and I’m glad its getting it positive reviews as I can see it being relatable to younger audiences, it was just a bit too messy and underdeveloped for me. Not one of Pixar’s worst, but not one of their best either.
CinemaStance 