Turning Red

Turning Red follows Meilin "Mei" Lee, a confident, dorky 13-year-old in Toronto in 2002. She is devoted to her friends, her family's temple duties and her strict, loving mother Ming. Her life is a balancing act between being the "perfect daughter" and the messier person she is becoming, one who loves boy bands, boys and loud fun.

Then Mei wakes up transformed into a giant red panda whenever her emotions run too high. The film is Pixar's first feature directed solely by a woman, Domee Shi, and it treats the change as a comic, heartfelt metaphor for puberty and for the strain between generations.

As Mei and her three best friends scheme to see their favorite band, 4*Town, in concert, she has to decide how much of herself to hide, how much to share, and what she owes her family. The film is fast, funny and anime-influenced, and it grounds its fantasy in a specific time and place.

The film argues that growing up means accepting your messy, loud, contradictory self instead of suppressing it, and that this acceptance can coexist with love for your family. Mei's panda is not a curse to be removed but a part of her. Honoring your parents does not require erasing yourself. Her father puts the idea plainly: the point is not to push the bad stuff away but to make room for it.

It is also about inherited burdens. Ming's own panda, and the pain behind her perfectionism, were handed down through generations. Healing requires parent and child to see each other honestly, and to see that a parent's love can wound without intending to.

The panda is most often read as puberty, and menstruation in particular. Others read it as inherited trauma and the immigrant family's complicated relationship with heritage, or as the creative spark, as the Washington Post suggested. Some critics felt the ending tidies up its messy emotions too neatly (the LA Times said it falls short of the catharsis it aims for), while others see Mei's choice to keep the panda as the more honest resolution, with her family accepting the whole of her.

The film arrived as a corrective to Pixar's male-buddy tradition: the New York Times described it as an unabashedly female story. Critics praised its specificity of place and time, a pastel Toronto in 2002, and its anime-influenced look and editing. Reviewers, including Cartoon Brew's roundup, noted that it broadens what a Pixar film can be.

Reception was strong with critics: Metacritic gave it a Metascore of 83 on 53 reviews. Some audiences were less enthusiastic, and the film's release straight to Disney+ and pre-release online arguments about its subject matter were part of the discussion. It has since been rediscovered and was given a theatrical release in 2024.

Critics were highly positive. Metacritic's Metascore is 83 from 53 reviews, with 94% positive, and the Cartoon Brew roundup cited a 95% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. IGN called it Pixar's funniest and most imaginative film in years, and The Hollywood Reporter called it original, funny and tender.

Audience scores were more divided: Metacritic's user score is 6.0, with 58% positive and 25% negative ratings, and the Rotten Tomatoes audience score cited was 66% at one point. Praise focused on the mother-daughter relationship, humor, the animation and the specificity of the setting. Criticism came from viewers put off by its focus on a teen girl's experience and from some critics, such as the LA Times, who felt the ending is too neat. The overall verdict: an energetic, distinctive and well-loved Pixar entry.