Turning Red Review - PATRON-EXCLUSIVE!
Added 2023-09-17 18:15:50 +0000 UTCA little girl turns into a monster... and we're supposed to be fine with that.
Comments
"Does Mom always have a box of kittens on standby?" I'm pretty sure Mei's parents just adopted the kittens solely for the test and returned them after said test.
T
2024-08-20 03:35:14 +0000 UTCI think the director actually acknowledges that, so she actually chose it because there was a lot of room to work with in terms of creating mythology with red pandas involved.
Tiger Owl
2023-10-04 03:28:20 +0000 UTCOh of course the Shaman was James Hong. He shows up everywhere! Though to me he will always be Mr. Ping from Kung-Fu-Panda, and Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China.
BB Shockwave
2023-09-27 11:08:44 +0000 UTCFun fact, to show how little even the writer knew about ACTUAL chinese mysticism... Red pandas have very little symbolic nature in chinese culture, at all. The most I could find is that it was considered good luck for newlywed men to wear red panda skin hats... Yikes. :( They had more significance in Bhutan where they were believed to be reincarnated buddhist monks (which kinda explains why Shifu was one in Kung Fu Panda). :P
BB Shockwave
2023-09-27 01:44:44 +0000 UTCI wish I could forget that "drawing my first R34" face Mei makes. Brrrr.... And good points about the movie not even getting the fur patterns of red pandas right! They probably thought the black color clashes with their "turning red" theme.
BB Shockwave
2023-09-27 01:36:44 +0000 UTCI am still dumbstruck as to why and how Pixar thought it was a good idea to give a storyboard artist with no directorial experience (save for a short) a billion dollar(s) movie to write and direct. But I notice this trend more and more... Is it because they are in such dire need to showcase diverse talent they take on everyone? Or is it because a director with no experience and little clout is so much easier to influence by the producer? I mean, the same happened later with Elemental. The other common theme of both movies is also that they cater to a very specific and rather small select number of viewers - in this case, asian-american young girls with domineering mothers.
BB Shockwave
2023-09-27 01:30:16 +0000 UTCThey probably missed the flight on that one.
Hell Ray
2023-09-19 14:15:47 +0000 UTCGood on you Bob. With the theme of the movie and all the mention of the word panda, a lesser man would have made a "Sexual Harassment Panda" joke. Also, there was prehistoric species of red panda (Simocyon) that weighed up to 200 pounds and was a full on predator. Cant help but wonder if it was in some way an inspiration here.
Doug Shore
2023-09-18 22:33:14 +0000 UTCUnderstandable how this movie isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I still enjoyed it. It really resparked my childhood in the mid 2000s. The Tomagachi’s, Burn CD, popular boy bands and funny, cringy fanart. Ahh the memories 😂🤣😂🤣 anyway awesome review!
CliffNoir329
2023-09-18 14:09:50 +0000 UTCFun fact, the scene where the mother shows up with pads was based off a real experience the director of the film had at that age.
Will Higgins
2023-09-18 04:50:37 +0000 UTCWe're forgetting the most important question-why didn't they mention 9/11?!?
churchontime
2023-09-18 03:29:33 +0000 UTCBecause in 2002, Domee Shi, the director, was thirteen years old and this movie was representative/metaphorical of her experiences growing up as a Chinese Canadian.
Raven Fox
2023-09-18 01:47:37 +0000 UTCThey really didn't. To this day I wonder why it was set in 2002. A former friend said it was so the boy band thing would make more sense but I don't know. Change the boy band to a kpop band (which he claims is more popular with the tween crowd) and what really changes? I think they should have gone with the oen theory, the movie ending with a reveal it was an adult Mei telling the story of her panda to her own daughter.
Curtis Rogahn
2023-09-18 01:30:50 +0000 UTCDoes the film say when it's set other than 2002? I ask since it's shown the girls want to pay Mei with the "Canadian journey" $5 bills, which didn't come out until March of 2002. Also, is there any reason why this movie is a period piece? Most movies put more reason into why a film is set in the past beyond "I like this time period".
Verdant Range
2023-09-17 23:34:29 +0000 UTCWhile I think it was a metaphor for growing up more than puberty, I agree with you. Mei's mom just couldn't face her not being a child anymore.
Raven Fox
2023-09-17 19:26:43 +0000 UTCI wont say what the ending opinion is for people who haven't seen it but it would be nice if more peoiple reacted to this film like that instead of... whatever the release was.
Edmund Simpson
2023-09-17 19:18:59 +0000 UTC9:30 So on the 'Not telling her about the Panda thing... it's more of the period metaphore, IE: parents don't warn their daughters/trans sons/nonbinary whatevers that it's going to happen and it catches them by suprise and happens before the parent thought it might. In universe it's dumb though.
Edmund Simpson
2023-09-17 19:18:03 +0000 UTCI think it's OK, but I love hearing your points of view Bob and Raven.
A.T. M
2023-09-17 19:08:38 +0000 UTCThink you missed a step early on: She has everything together at the beginning because most people have everything together UNTIL adolescence. Everything goes downhill after that; note the less-than-perfectly-graded paper she has hidden under her bed later. That's how I remember it, I was a top student through elementary school aaaand never accomplished anything again. That both Turning Red and Encanto feature people realizing of a maternal figure, "I will never be good enough for you," hit me really hard. Changed the way I talk to my own mother... in short, I force to her to face the issue instead of nitpicking my syntax, and so she refuses to talk to me about anything important. Not ideal, but I'll take it.
Sage Mann
2023-09-17 18:52:23 +0000 UTCYou know this movie really resonated with me for some reason. No idea why. Loved your breakdown though Raven.
Curtis Rogahn
2023-09-17 18:47:41 +0000 UTCThis movie was rather polarizing for quite a lot of people
Matt R
2023-09-17 18:46:14 +0000 UTCStill better than Lightyear which came out the same year.
Daniel J
2023-09-17 18:28:53 +0000 UTC
