Turning Red
Released on Disney+ on March 11, 2022
Runtime: 1 Hours 40 Minutes
Rated PG
Turning Red is about a thirteen year old Chinese Canadian girl named Meilin “Mei” Lee that takes place in 2002 (the year I graduated high school). Due to a back story involving one of Mei’s ancestors the women in her family receive a curse/gift (depending on each character’s perspective) when they enter puberty that allows them to turn into a giant red panda when they feel strong emotions. It is kind of like the Incredible Hulk, but with a red panda and any emotion, not just anger, will trigger the change. This is basically a coming of age story that has some pretty deep themes if you are willing to dig below the cuteness and humor.
It also has a slightly Japanese anime style to it. Beads of sweet profusely rolling down a brow, hearts in people’s eyes, and characters sometimes making rigid movements and moving in ways no normal human could. The art is unique, but I think there is a little anime influence.
Themes:
Themes in the movie includes family, puberty, menstruation, lying, overbearing parents, child and parent relationships, adulthood, boy bands, ancestors, culture, self-control, compassion, friends, figuring out oneself, self identity, and others.
Language:
There is some minor name calling (butthead, freak, jerkwad etc.). On the curse word front the word crap and heck is used several times. There is some intense arguing with people saying some hurtful things. Your kids may ask what these words mean that crop up in the movie: bootylicious, sucks, rebel, cramps, gyrations, stripper music, and shaman.
Stuff to be aware of:
There are two main things that I would want parents to be aware of.
One, the first part of the movie mentions things about a girl’s period multiple times. Pads and cramps are mentioned. The mom in the movie, when referring to her daughter, says, “You’re now a beautiful, strong flower, who must protect your delicate petals and clean them regularly.” This could be used to talk to children about topics like menstruation, puberty, sex, etc. or it may not be something you want to talk to your kids about yet. That is up to each parent. Sex is not mentioned, but the girls in the movie are very boy crazy.
Two, some may find the intensity of the mother and grandmother in this movie over the top. Yes, I know there are many Disney parents that are questionable (or never even show up in the movie), but Mei’s mom is intense. From my understanding, this is something specific to Chinese culture, but the whole time I was like, “oh no, I hope no parent would do this.” Mei’s mom stalks her as school and yells she forgot her pads in front of her class. She also takes drawings Mei made of a boy and shows him. Mei’s mom is very over the top and off the rails. On surface level, it seems to be played for laughs, but has you really feeling sorry for Mei. I believe the director/writers were showing us a glimpse into one issue within this culture. All cultures, even mine and yours, have their ups and downs. When Mei does finally decide to “rebel” the movie’s writers have forced the watcher into a corner that makes you want to say, “yeah, don’t listen to your parents ever! Rebel!”
A few other things I will note: Mei hits herself in the head/face when she is frustrated sometimes, there is some dancing that some may not find appropriate (shaking your butt and spanking it), Mei lies to her parents (yes, she isn’t the first Disney character to do so, but the mom/daughter relationship in this movie is over the top), there is a scary nightmare scene that is brief (it reminds me of a kid’s version of the scenes from the video tape in the Ring), and there is a big theme is the movie in being who you want to be verses how your parents see you.
I have seen some people mention online the scene where Mei draws pictures of her kissing a boy. She may draw some other things too, but we don’t see all the drawings. She does sweat and make funny faces when drawing them. When her mom discovers the drawings she flips out and says, “He did these things to you?!?!”
Overall:
As of right now, we are not sure if we will let our girls watch it. If we do we will have some conversations about things I have mentioned before we view it. We are less concerned about the topic of menstruation, but more concerned with some of the other things in the movie. For example the mom/daughter relationships, rebellion (yes our girls have seen the Little Mermaid), and the nightmare even though it was short was weird and would scare our girls.
As far as the story goes it was okay. Honestly, many Pixar movies I can watch again and again. This one, for me, was a one and done viewing. It has some funny moments and a few bizarre characters that made me smile, but I fell asleep half way through. I had to rewind some of it and watched the rest the next day. Over the years I have prided Pixar on making movies all children and all adults can enjoy and relate to. I think this movie has more of a target audience that I am sure can relate. I would say 11-15 year old girls.