Turning Red - Review

 

There’s no more awkward time in anyone’s life than puberty. Your body is going through changes of course, but it also happens to occur right alongside the time when most parents stop “understanding” their kids. While this time frame has made for plenty of entertaining films in the past, none have ever felt as fresh or emotionally invigorating as “Turning Red.”

Pixar’s latest follows Meilin Lee, voiced by Rosalie Chiang, a thirteen year old girl who gains the ability to turn into a giant Red Panda whenever she experiences a strong emotion. It's far more complicated than that, as most films often are, but going any further would be a disservice to the many emotionally satisfying and delightful turns the story takes.

Chiang is excellent as Meilin. She nails the wildly varying emotions of a thirteen year old girl dealing with something like this, but never losing any of the kid spirit within her. She has impeccable comedic timing as well, nailing the delivery on some of the film’s funniest moments and lines. Her friend group made up of Miriam, Abby, and Priya, voiced by Ava Morse (“Ron’s Gone Wrong”), Hyein Park, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (“Never Have I Ever”) respectively, are also incredibly charming. It’s so much fun to watch them interact with each other, bouncing jokes and lines around effortlessly. It’s easily one of the most believable friend groups in film in recent years.

But Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Killing Eve”) might very well be the film’s stand out performance. Oh’s dramatic talents have been well documented for years, but her comedic skills are less documented. Sure, she’s been in stuff like “Set It Up” or the HBO show “Arliss,” but she’s never been as funny as she is here. Her delivery is perfect on every single line, comedic or not, and she brings the right amount of gravitas required for the film’s more dramatic moments. It’s one of the best vocal performances Pixar has ever turned in, plain and simple. It speaks to not only the excellent writing on display, but the talent of the voice cast that even the smaller roles, like Meilin’s father Jin, voiced by Orion Lee (“First Cow,” “Only You”), annoying schoolmate Tyler, voiced by Tristan Allerick Chen, and Meilin’s grandmother, voiced by (“Daredevil (2015),” “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens”) all manage to stand out in various ways throughout the adventure.

Most of the things that make “Turning Red” great can also apply to many of Pixar’s previous films. It’s gorgeously animated, the voice cast is stellar, the emotional beats are potent, but the film is still extremely funny as well. But, “Red” has a kind of energy that Pixar simply hasn’t had in a very long time. It feels so vibrant and buoyant, as if at any moment a character might bounce out of the screen.

It’s a kind of energy that it almost feels like Pixar wasn’t allowed to have before. Be it because of technical limitations preventing them from doing this style before or the stereotype of Pixar films always being “serious”, “Turning Red” continues in the trend started by “Luca” by still maintaining dramatic, serious emotional moments that are bolstered by some brilliant stylized animation.

Moments of facial expressions, freeze frames, character’s movements, and line deliveries are all perfectly tailored to be just as expressive and energetic as they need to be. It’s a wonderful film to look at, of course because of the high level of beautiful art and color poured into every Pixar film, but it's also gorgeous to look at in motion because of the level of energy kept up throughout the entire runtime.

The score from Ludwig Göransson (“Black Panther,” “Tenet”) pumps with an infectious blend of various synth and electronic instruments with Asian instruments as well. It’s the kind of score that you hear while watching the film and make mental notes to listen to outside of the context of the film; its just so infectious and full of energy. The same can be said for the boy-band themed songs written for the film by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, as they’re so perfectly of the time period that it feels as if someone reached back to 2002 and plucked them right out of the era.

Writer/Director Domee Shi (“Bao”) already has an Academy Award for her short “Bao” and it's evident from the very beginning of “Red” that she’s firing on all cylinders. For a first time feature film director, “Red” has such remarkably even pacing and vision that it feels like it was crafted by one of Pixar’s veterans. It helps that the script, co-written by playwright Julia Cho (“Big Love,” “Fringe”) has such a healthy balance between big laughs and the kind of down to earth moments the film needs to be successful. It also nails the exact way that early-teen girls talk to each other, and also the lingo and references that are necessary for a film set in such a specific time and place.

It’s also a movie that feels radical in a quiet way. It’s Pixar’s first film to be directed only by a woman (the studio only has one other film directed by a woman, “Brave,” which was co-directed by Brenda Chapman), and the writing and producing staff are all women as well. It also features so many little moments that don’t feel groundbreaking while watching the film, it's only after the fact that you realize there are. Forget about thinking of another animated film that addresses puberty in such a calm and normalizing way, it's hard to think of another animated film that’s ever even mentioned pads before.

This may be the first film from Domee Shi, but one can only hope that there are many more on the horizon after this. “Turning Red” is an immediate Pixar gem, a modern classic with gorgeous animation and a heart-melting story, with impeccable voice acting that’s also Pixar’s funniest movie in years. Like the very best movies from the studio, it not only feels immediately like “A film by Pixar” but it also feels immediately like “A film by Domee Shi.” 5/5