By Emily-Rose Toohey
On 11 March, the latest Disney Pixar animated film, Turning Red, was released on Disney+.
The film follows Mei Lee, a 13-year-old girl who is torn between being her mother’s obedient daughter and the chaos of her youth.
However, there’s a twist: Mei finds herself able to turn into a giant red panda when her emotions become too extreme.
The Lee family is of Chinese descent and Mei is told that one of her ancestors had this transformation ability, which was passed down through the generations – her mother, for instance, went through the same experience.
In order to remove this ‘curse’ forever, she is told to participate in a ritual that will take the red panda’s spirit from her body.
When Mei’s three best friends discover her secret, she decides to embrace this abnormality as a gift and use it to her friendship group’s advantage: to make money.
The four friends are obsessed with boy band 4TOWN, and are desperate (very, very desperate) to attend their concert using the money they accumulated from photo opportunities with the red panda, alongside merchandise.
But like most effective stories, things don’t exactly go as planned.
The film is set in 2002 and is one of Disney Pixar’s most unique, stylish animations to date.
It tells a coming of age story of sorts that many females can relate to and remember as part of their youth: tight knit friend groups, crushing on boys, and most memorably, an obsession with a celebrity boy band.
4TOWN is reminiscent of NSYNC and the Back Street Boys, and even One Direction.
They perform incredibly catchy, early 2000s accurate songs written by the talented sibling duo of Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
The voice actors also do a superb job at conveying each character’s emotions and making them feel like real, lived-in humans.
Overall, Turning Red is a bold, captivating, and fun film that will attract viewers of all ages to watch.
If you’re after a film that is unique in both storytelling and craft, this film is especially for you.
Turning Red is available for streaming on Disney+.
