Hey guys! Dan here and I'm going to be reviewing the Pixar movie, Turning Red!

Now straight off the bat, I love Pixar movies they're one of my favorite Animation Studios and I was genuinely excited for this movies release. With that said, I don't like how Disney is handling Pixar movies. They seem to be scrapping the Pixar theatrical releases and send them over the Disney plus streaming service exclusively like what they did with Soul and Luca (they're more available on other services like Amazon Prime and YouTube now but that was months after initial release dates). Not everyone has or can afford the streaming service so it really is a bummer that not everyone has easy access to this movie via buying a ticket at the movies which is like 10-12 dollars a pop as oppose to paying a monthly or yearly subscription which can get pretty steep after a while. Disney doesn't have to make this a Disney plus exclusive, but it seems they either don't have real faith in Pixar anymore, they want to leech as much as possible from the service or perhaps inside fighting between Disney and Pixar which I'll touch on more later. Going forward, there will be some spoilers so...you've been warned.

Now lets address the elephant or in this case...Red panda in the room, this movie is definitely a more mature movie like 13+ kind of mature since this movie discusses "Change" that every young person goes through in their lives, the dreaded P word if ya catch my drift. It also uses colorful language you'd never expect to hear in any Disney movie and even mentions drugs at the beginning which I thought was a bit wild but I like that. This is meant to be a family movie but also something the teens and preteens can enjoy on their own and relate to. I think Domee Shi and Julia Cho did an excellent job making quite an awkward subject and form it into an entertaining piece that still manages to be informative and something everyone can enjoy and have a good time watching.

I've seen some discourse online about the movie being "unrelatable" or "Domee Shi making a movie about her and her friends" which I find both to be silly. It is true Domee Shi did loosely base the story off of her personal life in her teen years hence why this movie was set in 2002, however I felt this was a movie teenagers and adults can relate to in one way, shape or form. watching Mei Mei and her friends being goofballs and going through their shenanigan's and helping Mei through her changes in her life reminded me back to my high school years with my best friends and how we'd get wacky ourselves and go through the changes into adulthood together as friends do. So while I am not a 13 year old Asian girl, I can still relate to the story and have a good time watching Mei Mei go through her life changes while feeling a connection to her character.

The plot of the movie was pretty good and the animation and visuals were neat. If you love anime or chibi stuff, you'll definitely love the visuals and animation in this film. I have no real complaints about it though there are some nitpicks. Like for example, when the women went to that spiritual realm, Mei Mei finds her mother Ming but Ming is a young girl again. When they walk together, she ages back into her current age and catch up with the other women where they're all their current ages as well. I don't understand that part like did they also turn into little girls and age as they progressed to the portal? Does that happen anytime they have to perform the ritual again? that part was a bit weird but I'm sure there will be a Q&A with Domee Shi to clear that up. Another thing, Why is Ming's panda Godzilla sized compared to everyone else? Is that suppose to imply something else about those "changes"? or is it meant to be her anger swelling up? I honestly don't know but again I'm sure there will be a Q&A in the future to elaborate.

Now the characters were definitely people we all know, my personal top three favorites are Mei Mei the main character, her little hyperactive friend Abby who is a real....motivated girl ya know? has her eyes on the prize (in this case, boys), and my real favorite and everyone's fan favorite, Jin, Mei Mei's dad. Let me just say, it's refreshing to see the father to be the one to help the protagonist through a real dilemma in their life, typically the mother comforts them but here its a real uno reverse where Ming (Mei Mei's mom) is causing Mei Mei to feel nothing but stress and just controls whatever she does while the father was the one to help guide his child through a critical part of their lives. Jin was the husband who wanted to please everyone (specifically his wife more) and he actually surprised me with how caring and transparent he was with Mei Mei when they were talking about her mother's panda transformation before the ritual and how he wants his daughter to be happy and who she is. Also, if you watch after the credits, you'll definitely see where Mei Mei gets her fun goofy personality from lol.

There are two characters that stand out to me apart from my favorites, Priya and the bully then turned friend Tyler. These two stick out to me for a particular reason and I think they were meant to. Priya clearly likes boys just like the other girls in the movie, however at Tylers party she seems to be fond of and dancing with this goth or scene girl and then it pans to the other girls cheering her on and kind of insinuating that the two girls "like" each other. so it can be implied perhaps Priya is Bi or Pan though I can't confirm that for sure its just a hunch. Tyler seems like a typical school yard bully with an interesting fashion taste, though at the 4Town boy band concert, Mei Mei and her friends see Tyler at the concert covered in 4Town merch and basically dropping head over heels for the boy band just like girls. So this may hint that perhaps Tyler is gay. Again, that's not confirmed but that is what I'm reading off his character.

Having talked about the LGBT vibes I'm getting from the characters, this leads me to what I mention previously about the inside fighting between Disney and Pixar. Disney is not supportive of anything LGBT related and Pixar wants to make content that is diverse and appeals to everyone. This has led to some conflict from Disney heavily censoring LGBT content and even funding sponsors in Florida who are against LGBT rights. Pixar has wrote a letter to Disney about how this is not okay and that Disney needs to change. This conflict may be part of the reason why Disney is treating Pixar the way it is though I can't prove that its just a theory.

Overall, I think Turning Red was a fun coming of age story full of fun, mischief, and love. Definitely a fun movie for the family and one where maybe it can help break the ice when parents need to talk to their children about puberty and the changes they're going through. I'd recommend giving it a watch if you have the chance.

I'd rate this film:

7/10

That may seem a tad low with everything I said, but again the fact that this is a Disney Plus exclusive kills its range and makes it harder for people to see on release date. This causes it to lose points in the rating because Disney is capable of a theatrical release to the public but instead forces you to pay for their streaming service which is a real scummy move from Disney. I'm sure the film will be released on more platforms later down the line but as it stands right now I feel that's a fair score.

That's about it, catch y'all next time!