TURNING RED

Turning Red is delightful and fun throughout thanks to the film’s boundless energy and the personal details sprinkled into the story.

While not quite a return to the heydays of Pixar, where every movie they made hit a homerun, Turning Red still by far is the studio's most pleasing, genuinely affecting film since 2015's Inside Out.

Sure, the allegory of an Asian-Canadian teenage girl turning into a giant red panda whenever her hormones or emotions run riot is perhaps a bit too on-the-nose but every detail rings true, from the relationships with friends and family to the wonderful recreation of Toronto and even the use of the boyband music so typical for the early noughties, where Turning Red is set.

Another remarkable feat of the movie is its boundless energy, that never succumbs to annoyance, but once again is an integral part of the journey of the central teenager. To be fair, Turning Red does run out of steam a bit in its final act, when its heart-tugging morals are swamped by a larger-than-life confrontation and an unnecessary need to tie up every single loose end.

But those are minor quibbles in a film that is delightful and fun throughout.

release: 2022

director: Domee Shi

starring: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park