Turning Red is another movie that examines the relationship between mother and child. It tries to blend serious with disney fantasy but winds up confused. It's a coming of age story centering around Meilin, a 13 year old Chinese girl who tries to spread her time between being a free-spirit and adhering to the large expectations of her mother. But things are changing for her; she's more into boys, concerts, and concerts concerning boys. At its heart is a strained mother-daughter relationship: one sadly based on the old Chinese cliche of the Tiger mom who will tolerate nothing more from her daughter than to live by family custom. It's a caricature played to overbearing effect here. But that's nothing compared with trying to connect with this story. For a film meant to open up a dialogue between mothers and daughters, it doesn't really give you much place to start. It's obviously not as top-notch as some other Pixar films. Probably the most aggregious issue is that the heart and emotion of the feature doesn't hit nearly as hard as it was trying to. The choice to be more cartoonish ends up draining the impact in some heartfelt moments. In all, while the film deserves praise for talking about puberty in such depth but its styling choices, predictable plot, and occasionally cringey dialogue are a turn-off for me.
Review of Turning Red
