Pixar’s Turning Red captures the wonder and horror of being a teen in 2002

Disney's latest animated feature may be Pixar's Turning Red, directed by Domee Shi. The movie is a kind of one-way time machine back to 2002, when burning CDs was the easiest way to share music with friends. The story of a young girl trying to break free of her overbearing family is both timeless and surprising, as it is a testament to its studio growing up in some very important ways.

The central character in Turning Red is a 13-year-old girl who most parents of grade eights dream of. Meilin is on top of her grades, loves her trio of friends, and respects her father, Jin, and her domineering mother, Ming. After years of playing the role of an extremely dutiful daughter, Meilin reaches her breaking point when she is humiliated so thoroughly that it almost feels like mother is trying. Life throws her for a loop when she spontaneously transforms into a massive red panda in an explosion of pink smoke, a magical power that acts as a defense mechanism throughout the movie.

Image: Pixar Animation Studios

The story of Turning Red is far more intimate and grounded than Pixar's other films, which are more about people fighting for their lives or trying to save their worlds from destruction. It is a concern that she fights to keep a secret from her friends, and that is the panda thing. Her panda is one of the many things on her plate, as she learns that her all-time favorite boy band 4*Town are on their way to Toronto, and as she starts to realize that crushes on boys are going to be a thing for her.

In the first few scenes of Turning Red, it's clear that the movie is comfortable in both aesthetic modes for comedy. The movie, which looks and feels like a bright and busy Pixar feature, is filled with beats and gags more commonly found in two-dimensional animation and Manga, that all speak to Meilin's own sensibilities as a budding artist.

The biggest challenge that Meilin faces is her mother's inability to recognize the things that fulfill her emotionally, and what Turning Red is most interested in exploring. The magical elements of Turning Red are important to its story, but they are not the main focus of the film.

Oh frequently luxuriates in the spotlight with a performance that will alarm anyone who has ever wanted to disappear while watching their parents do something. The way Turning Red acknowledges and has fun with a number of the specific realities of being a hormonal teenager is what makes her feel like such a breath of fresh air coming from the studio.

The prospect of breathing the same air as 4*Town's five members, Robaire, Jordan Fisher, Josh Levi, and Aaron Z., is similar to that of turning into a humongous panda. The movie's jokes about the girls obsession with boys remind you that it's a coming-of-age story about a young girl discovering what kind of person she is. The third act of Turning Red has an interesting twist on the experience of children being ostracized for bringing their ethnic cultures to school.

It feels distinct in that the trauma at hand isn't exactly the point of the movie, even though it would be more than fair to count Turning Red among the growing number of children's movies broaching the concept of generational trauma. It is just one element of a complicated life. It's a life that, among other things, involves her emotions becoming so powerful that they give rise to a new physical form, an idea that becomes increasingly realistic as you watch the movie and its addictive soundtrack wash over you.

The cast of Turning Red also includes Wai Ching Ho. The movie will be available on Disney+ on March 11th.