Review | Turning Red movie review: Bao director’s Pixar coming-of-age comedy is both funny and authentic
- Meilin’s adolescence in Toronto’s Chinatown is marked by routine until she hits puberty and hears of a family curse: any outburst and she becomes a red panda
- Chinese-Canadian Domee Shi, an Oscar winner for Bao, directs with panache and sensitivity this story of a tiger mum – or is it panda mum? – and her daughter
4/5 stars
A precocious teenager discovers, much to her horror, that she can transform into a giant red panda in Turning Red, the latest animated offering from Pixar Studios. The film marks the feature directing debut of Chinese-Canadian Domee Shi, who won an Academy Award in 2019 for her animated short film, Bao.
Set in Toronto’s Chinatown circa 2002, Shi’s bright and fluffy coming-of-age caper is an often hilarious and commendably frank appreciation of the awkwardness of adolescence.
The action-packed adventure also serves as a nostalgia-fuelled celebration of filial piety and a cautionary tale about the dangers of over-parenting.
Meilin (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) is a 13-year-old straight-A student, and the only child of the indomitable Ming (Sandra Oh) and her introverted husband, Jin (Orion Lee).