Turning Red

[blackcauldron85]

I told my parents what a good movie this is. My mom basically said that it's not her cup of tea, girls shouldn't get a movie like this if boys don't also get a puberty movie. I mentioned Luca as a coming-of-age story, but she's so focused on thinking that the whole movie focuses on a girl getting her period. Omg. And she's a woman. I don't get it.

[D82]

I don't know if it was posted before but in Pixar's official site, it's confirmed that the kids' full names are Abby Park, Miriam Mendelsohn, Priya Mangal and Tyler Nguyen-Baker.

I don't think I knew Tyler's full name before. He has the same surname as Qui Nguyen, Raya's screenwriter, so I guess he's also of Vietnamese descent. By the way, I didn't know there were lots of concept art and info about the film on Pixar's official site. Thanks for posting the link!

A few weeks ago, I was able to do an interview with director Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins. I think it turned out quiet fun. But they did confirm to me that Disney Parks is working on bringing the big red panda to the Parks as a character. I think that's a pretty interesting information =)
I put the whole interview on YouTube and there are some other fun pieces of information in there, too

That's so cool! And you asked very interesting questions. Nice job!

From what I gather from my facebook feed, conservatives hate this movie, lol
They're saying to not let your kids see this movie, Disney has changed for the worse, etc.

They don't like how the message seems to be to defy your parents.

That probably also explains the low Rotten Tomatoes audience score and not only the fact that it's not that appealing to male audiences. It has risen a little, though, from 69% to 72%.

https://twitter.com/PixarTurningRed/sta ... xtnMg&s=19

Source: https://twitter.com/samba_tv/status/1503745967786545160

I'm glad it's doing so well!

[Jules]

From what I gather from my facebook feed, conservatives hate this movie, lol
They're saying to not let your kids see this movie, Disney has changed for the worse, etc.

They don't like how the message seems to be to defy your parents.

Haven't yet seen the movie. If it really encourages the idea to defy one's parents for no good reason except to assert one's individuality or some similar bs, than I 100% understand why some people do not like it and would decline to recommend it.

Personally I am tired of coming across damaging commentary on the internet seemingly intent on convincing all teenagers that their parents are horrible, manipulative people, and that the moment they exert some form of discipline they must be shunned and verbally abused, to make sure they realise what horrible people they are.

However, I very much doubt Turning Red has this message. I am guessing that if Mei is disrespectful towards her parents there will be a reason for her less-than-perfect behaviour.

Guess I'll know when I see it! I'm very much looking forward to it.

[Disney's Divinity]

With ‘Turning Red,’ a Big Red Panda Helps Break a Glass Ceiling
Domee Shi is the first woman filmmaker with sole directing credit on a Pixar feature.

Pixar has a well-deserved reputation for dudes — movies focused on dudes (20 out of 24 feature films), movies directed by dudes (23 of 24), movies written by dudes (50 of 59 screenwriters). But the Disney-owned animation studio has been trying to evolve, largely because many of its own artists have demanded it.

“Get some ladies!” Domee Shi told me recently. “Draw from different creative wells!”

Shi, who likens herself to a cat oscillating between “lazy and grrr,” arrived at Pixar as a storyboarding intern in 2011, when she was 22. She stayed on as a staff artist, contributing to films like “Inside Out” and “Incredibles 2.” In 2018, she became the first woman to direct a Pixar short. That eight-minute movie, “Bao,” about a dumpling that comes to life, giving an aging Chinese woman relief from empty nest syndrome, won Shi an Oscar — and put her on course to break an even bigger glass ceiling at Pixar.

The studio’s 25th feature, “Turning Red,” will arrive on Disney+ on March 11. Shi directed it, the first woman in the studio’s 36-year history with that solo distinction. (Brenda Chapman was hired to direct “Brave” (2012), about a defiant princess in ancient Scotland, and retains a credit. But she was fired during production for “creative differences” and replaced by a dude.)

Moreover, “Turning Red” tells an unabashedly female story — so much so that it reads as a corrective to the Woody-Buzz-Flik-Sully-Mike-Mater-Lightning-Luca bromances in which Pixar has specialized.

...

About a decade ago, Disney and Pixar started to routinely showcase different cultures, races and ethnicities. The success of “Big Hero 6” (2014) and “Moana” (2016) led to diverse films like “Coco,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Soul” and “Encanto.” Some of those same movies continued to break down gender stereotypes by depicting bold, brainy women who didn’t need a man’s love to make them whole. (Credit to “Brave” for fostering that change.) Pixar also began to embrace progressive storytelling in its short films, most prominently with “Out,” about a man who decides to stop hiding that he is gay.

But adolescent sexuality and the biological changes that come with it have remained a third rail. Some slight innuendo? Maybe. Anything more might spook conservative parents and threaten Disney’s family friendly brand.

“How do I sneak this through?” Shi recalled thinking before one pitch meeting with senior Walt Disney Studios executives. “How do I sell this and get old white men who’ve never experienced this before excited about this and wanting to, like, see more of it?”

Disney, which, like other Hollywood studios, had been espousing female empowerment in response to the #MeToo revolution, put its money where its mouth was: In spring 2018, the company gave Shi a budget of roughly $175 million to tell her story, along with the backing of its merchandising and marketing divisions.

“I felt like they were always in my corner, even if they sometimes were, like, whaaat?” Shi said.

At the time, Pixar was in turmoil. John Lasseter, the studio’s chief creative officer, had been placed on leave following complaints about inappropriate workplace behavior. Others blasted Pixar for sidelining women and people of color. Lasseter apologized for “missteps” and resigned in June 2018.

The Pixar filmmaker Pete Docter (“Up,” “Inside Out”) was handed the studio’s creative reins, which was fortuitous for Shi, since Docter had helped shape her unconventional “Bao.”

The short has an offbeat ending that is meant to symbolize the all-consuming love of a parent: The older woman abruptly eats the dumpling, little legs and all. It was the ending that Shi wanted all along, but she had chickened out when first pitching the story to her bosses. “I worried that eating the dumpling was too dark and weird and confusing and totally not something Pixar would go for,” she said. So she pitched a safer option.

“Pete was in that pitch meeting,” Shi recalled, “and he stood up and said, ‘Wait, no, that is not the version you told me about a couple weeks ago.’ He turned to the group and said, ‘Her original ending was really cool and weird and shocking.’”

Shi was allowed to re-pitch, this time with her idea intact. “I think because of that experience it gave me the confidence to not be afraid to try bold, weird and shocking things in the stories I want to tell — to not censor myself,” she said. (“Domee knows that surprise is something we all crave in stories,” Docter said in an email. “We don’t want to be able to predict where things are going. And with Domee, I find that is often the case — both in her work, and as a person!”)

“Bao” won the 2019 Oscar for best animated short. In her acceptance speech, Shi implored “all the nerdy girls out there who hide behind their sketchbooks” to tell their stories. “You’re going to freak people out,” she said, “but you’ll probably connect with them too.”

“Turning Red” has already stirred both reactions. On Twitter, people have been celebrating Mei’s story as long overdue. “Finally, my anxious Asian girl representation,” one user wrote. The Pixar film has also sparked a wider conversation about how periods are portrayed by Hollywood in general. (Usually with a fair amount of shame and disgust.)

Read the rest of the article here (I cut a little out of the middle and off the ending):
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/movi ... e-shi.html

The opening two paragraphs of this article alone, outlining the numbers--SPEAK IT! I'm glad Shi got a chance to make this film and I hope she makes many more. I have no doubt that wouldn't have happened if Lasseter had still been around, he would've usurped her halfway through and made this a buddy roadtrip between Mei and a male classmate or some nonsense.

[Farerb]

UK cover:

[Farerb]

US cover:


Best Buy steelbook:

[Avaitor]

When is it being released? I want to make sure that I get this on day one. No one posted about Encanto's release, so I missed it by a week or two.

[carolinakid]

I’m seeing specualation it’ll be late June (June 21 possibly) but no release date has actually been given yet.

[Farerb]

As far as I know it's going to be released on May 3.

[Farerb]

Blu-ray cover:

[Farerb]

Pixar Promotes ‘Turning Red’ Filmmakers Lindsey Collins, Domee Shi to Leadership Roles (EXCLUSIVE)
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/pixa ... 235225493/

[blackcauldron85]

The Alternate Versions of Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’ That We’ll Never See
https://www.thewrap.com/turning-red-alt ... sney-plus/

[Disney's Divinity]

I did like this a lot--so happy I didn't have to wait a really long time like with Luca--but I didn't lovelove it the way I expected. I think what held it back was it being set at a specific time (the '90s)--even as somebody who grew up that decade with all that nostalgia of having a crush on the Backstreet Boys and gigapets. Making it so specifically one decade, everything needs to fit, but Mei's friends didn't really feel like children from that time period to me. Mei herself is fine, an overachiever type with a Tiger Mom could fit almost any modern time and Miriam as a sort of As Told by Ginger dorky girl with braces could fit in anywhere from the '90s to now (same with Tyler the secretly-gay?bully), but Priya and especially Abby felt much more like children of today's generation or the 2010s, all hyped up on cell phones, memes, and Twitter-speak rather than how children were in the '90s--to me anyway.

Anyway, aside from that, I loved a great majority of the film. The beginning with Mei going from school to the temple, starting to obsess over the teenage boy from the store, being humiliated by her mother (twice)--all great. I already knew I liked the character designs and general aesthetic, which is why I was really curious to see both this (same thing with Luca). Really liked the ending of her in the spirit world, seeing both her mother when she was her age and Sun Yee. Sun Yee's reaction to Mei accepting the panda seemed as if she was happy somebody finally saw it as a blessing the way she did again--something that makes her stronger--rather than a curse. After all, Sun Yee wanted the transformation powers in order to protect her family and make her community stronger.

Something about Mei taking pictures with people to get tickets for the concertsort of rubbed me wrong though. I guess because they connected the Red Panda tangentially to puberty, budding sexuality, her period, etc., I couldn't help but feel like there was almost an unintentional metaphor there that she waspimping herself out for money. But I believe the part of the movie that let me down the most was Panda!Ming's and Panda!Mei's confrontation at the end. At first, I thought it was going to be hilarious when we saw Ming was Godzilla size, but something about her designonce we saw it didn't quite work for me... And I didn't quite get why everyone in Mei's family was the same size Panda as her other than Ming, who was 20x larger; Ming didn't seem nearly as aggressive and controlling as the grandmother, for example. Still, despite the confrontation dialogue and Panda!Ming's design not working for me, Panda!Mei twerking to "stick it to" her mom made me .

There were a few off moments that made me think of Sailor Moon, and I feel like that may have been intentional since the Sailor Moon anime was in the '90s. I can't think of any one thing specifically other than when Mei was running to the concert at the end and she was in front of the moon. Her being an alternate identity with a hyper-connection to the moon...

*Edit* Oh yeah, I wanted to talk about some of the language/topics. "Sexy" (about a boy I think) was used. 'Stripper" (Mei's friend saying her parent called 4-Town's music "stripper music") made me chuckle. I thought that was a little provocative for a Pixar film but I personally don't mind it. And they didn't get graphic at all but bringing out the maxi pads was actually nice to see...a normal part of so many people's lives made a little more normalized I guess. And when Priya was, I don't remember if it was a little dance or what it was with another girl, so I think Priya might be bisexual since she also loves Jesse from 4-Town. It wasn't much but it was something I suppose...

I also heard "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child.I think that contributed to my feeling what I said above about her showing herself off for money, that her Panda Self was sort of a metaphor for her body. She even says, "My panda, my choice" at the end, which made me chuckle, so...

Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are heavily male dominated websites so an animated feature about a boyband-obsessed, teenage girl going through puberty was never really going to appeal to them. It doesn’t say much about how kids or families feel about the film.

I have to say I kind of liked it. It was deeply weird and different, but not in a bad way. Overall it’s mid tier Pixar and I can see why this skipped cinemas.

It’s not nearly as good as Luca though.

I feel the same. Didn't like it as much as Luca, but I did enjoy it.

And it is a very weird movie. Of course, not in a bad way at all. I like movies to take risks, try new things, rather than always giving more of the same (both in the look of the movie as well as tone, story, etc.). Also, I think the weirdness goes in part with the plot, too--because Mei's whole story revolves around her being overwhelmed, it seems sort of fitting that the audience is a little overwhelmed at how odd and fast-paced the movie is.

I like that he became a part of the group at the concert. You know, now that you mentioned it, I think he made some kind of face or something either for one or all 4-Town guys so he could be gay. But it could have been someone just going gaga for their favorite band. Something to look at closer in the next watch!!

I think you're right. I guess I associate that behavior more with fangirls because I don't know any straight male fan obsessed with a band personally, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's gay. What made me think that too is that I imagined there must be a reason why he was kind of a bully towards Mei. At first, I thought it was because he was secretly in love with her; sometimes people act that way when they like someone even though it seems it should be the opposite. But after the concert scene I thought that if he was gay maybe the reason he acted that way could be that he secretly wanted to be part of Mei's group or envied her, for example, but I don't know if that would make sense. Probably, there's another reason why he treated her like that.

By the way, I found the part where Priya dances with another girl you mentioned and by the reaction of Mei and the other two girls, I think you're right she's bisexual. Though I missed that moment when I watched the film, I did think there seemed to be some attraction between her and that same girl at another scene where they're playing games at Tyler's birthday party, but I had forgotten about it.

I kept my eye on the character because of having read this prior to seeing the film. For me, he comes across as if he is gay, not because he fans out, but there's one part when the one guy--I guess the cutest one to the characters?--'flies' down to the audience on a wire reaching his hand out as if to touch them and everyone reaches up for it with gaga eyes. He did that as much as the rest of them. That's different than kawaii eyes, which were pretty prominent throughout this movie--I loved they included the whole kawaii look in this movie, btw! I must've missed the moment with Priya.

There was something aboutTyler that seemed removed from the other children, that maybe he wanted Mei at his party in order to impress people and make friends he didn't have. I mean, paying her $200 for that was pretty extreme and came across desperate. Also, the part where Ming comes to the store and accosts the cashier boy Mei drew a picture of, I thought it was curious Tyler was there... I mean, of course it made the whole experience more humiliating for Mei, but I couldn't help thinking the only reason he seemed to be hanging around there was maybe he had gaga eyes for the older guy just like Mei and her friends did.

I also had a bit of an issue with the climax, but in my case because I would've preferred the whole world hadn't learned about the panda incident and Mei would keep the transformations a secret. It's just not too believable for me Mei's family could continue with their lives like before after that. If that happened in real life the press would harass them, scientists would want to experiment on her, etc. Though I loved Luca, I had a similar issue with its ending as well. I like the message they wanted to convey with it, but I also found it a bit hard to believe that ending would work in the real world.

I had the same thought about both films, too. I think Luca was not as bad because I took it as being set in a more quaint time than Turning Red, and in a random town where most wouldn't believe the story even if somebody did talk about it. But Mei and her mother in a city seen by thousands, having destroyed a concert arena like that? No way the government and the whole globe wouldn't be seeing that in the news.

[D82]

I did like this a lot--so happy I didn't have to wait a really long time like with Luca--but I didn't lovelove it the way I expected. I think what held it back was it being set at a specific time (the '90s)--even as somebody who grew up that decade with all that nostalgia of having a crush on the Backstreet Boys and gigapets. Making it so specifically one decade, everything needs to fit, but Mei's friends didn't really feel like children from that time period to me. Mei herself is fine, an overachiever type with a Tiger Mom could fit almost any modern time and Miriam as a sort of As Told by Ginger dorky girl with braces could fit in anywhere from the '90s to now (same with Tyler the secretly-gay?bully), but Priya and especially Abby felt much more like children of today's generation or the 2010s, all hyped up on cell phones, memes, and Twitter-speak rather than how children were in the '90s--to me anyway.

I don't know if it was Mei's friends or what it was for me, but I also thought the film felt too contemporary at times. Sometimes I forgot it was set in the early 2000s. But, I don't know, since the movie is quite autobiographical, maybe the director had friends like that and everything is more or less accurate to how she experienced that time period.

There were a few off moments that made me think of Sailor Moon, and I feel like that may have been intentional since the Sailor Moon anime was in the '90s. I can't think of any one thing specifically other than when Mei was running to the concert at the end and she was in front of the moon. Her being an alternate identity with a hyper-connection to the moon...

I think Domee Shi said in either the making-of documentary or some interview that she loves Sailor Moon and that there are references to it in the movie, so most likely it's intentional. I've never seen the show or read the comics, though, so I couldn't catch any of those references.

I kept my eye on the character because of having read this prior to seeing the film. For me, he comes across as if he is gay, not because he fans out, but there's one part when the one guy--I guess the cutest one to the characters?--'flies' down to the audience on a wire reaching his hand out as if to touch them and everyone reaches up for it with gaga eyes. He did that as much as the rest of them. That's different than kawaii eyes, which were pretty prominent throughout this movie--I loved they included the whole kawaii look in this movie, btw! I must've missed the moment with Priya.

There was something aboutTyler that seemed removed from the other children, that maybe he wanted Mei at his party in order to impress people and make friends he didn't have. I mean, paying her $200 for that was pretty extreme and came across desperate. Also, the part where Ming comes to the store and accosts the cashier boy Mei drew a picture of, I thought it was curious Tyler was there... I mean, of course it made the whole experience more humiliating for Mei, but I couldn't help thinking the only reason he seemed to be hanging around there was maybe he had gaga eyes for the older guy just like Mei and her friends did.

I think you're right about the gaga eyes. I also got the impression he didn't have many friends and that's why he wanted Mei at his party so badly. Regarding the scene at the store, what you said hadn't occurred to me, but you could be right about that too. Anyway, it seems we are not the only ones who suspect Tyler might be gay. In this article they discuss it and say that though none of the cast or crew have confirmed it, Domee Shi revealed that a lot of his backstory was cut, so that could be a hint at it being true.

I had the same thought about both films, too. I think Luca was not as bad because I took it as being set in a more quaint time than Turning Red, and in a random town where most wouldn't believe the story even if somebody did talk about it. But Mei and her mother in a city seen by thousands, having destroyed a concert arena like that? No way the government and the whole globe wouldn't be seeing that in the news.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about both endings. I think you're right Luca's ending is not as bad as Turning Red's in that regard.

Pixar Promotes ‘Turning Red’ Filmmakers Lindsey Collins, Domee Shi to Leadership Roles (EXCLUSIVE)
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/pixa ... 235225493/

I'm happy for them! I'm also glad there are now more women in leadership positions at the studio.

The Alternate Versions of Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’ That We’ll Never See
https://www.thewrap.com/turning-red-alt ... sney-plus/

The idea of Panda Mei getting bigger the more emotional she felt is interesting, but like they said, it probably would've been too complicated to do in the movie.

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm happy for them! I'm also glad there are now more women in leadership positions at the studio.

Me, too. I'm definitely interested to see more from Shi, in particular.

[Farerb]

One of the deleted scenes: https://people.com/movies/disney-pixar- ... exclusive/

[D82]

I'm definitely interested to see more from Shi, in particular.

Same, I think she has a very unique and interesting vision.

One of the deleted scenes: https://people.com/movies/disney-pixar- ... exclusive/

I liked it, it was quite funny. And I'm surprised it was fully animated. I guess it must've been discarded quite late in the process. I understand why it was cut, though, since it's not too necessary for the story.

Here's another deleted scene:

Turning Red’s deleted debate scene would have changed the movie’s tone
https://www.polygon.com/23034517/turnin ... bate-pixar

[D82]

Another deleted scene has been released. Mei's cousin looks like an ealier version of Tyler, right?

A deleted 'Turning Red' scene teases an alternate version of the movie that would've had a young male lead alongside Mei
https://www.insider.com/turning-red-del ... sin-2022-4

[blackcauldron85]

Yes, he looks a bit like Tyler. I'm glad they didn't go that route- I didn't enjoy that deleted scene as much as the others posted.

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm so glad this film isn't a buddy roadtrip, but I can't deny that the idea of a version of the film where there might've been more of Tyler would have been something I'd have liked to some degree. I enjoy the film as-is though. TBH, from commercials, I thought he would be in it more. There's a particular moment where he laughs at her (the part where she throws the ball at him) that reminds me so much of The Simpsons--maybe Bart, specifically ("Ha, ha!")? IDK, I don't watch that show even though I've seen episodes in my life before, but something about Tyler's movements there reminded me of how the tongue sort of shoots out of the mouths and eyes bulge when the characters laugh on The Simpsons.

I was just reading Tim Brayton's review for this and Luca, now I've finally seen them. He has a funny line about the CalArts style a lot of you hate about these two films in the opening paragraph. Anyway, I'd just been thinking, now Lasseter's long gone and I'm feeling more positive about PIXAR lately, I don't think I'll restrain myself from buying or seeing their films in theaters anymore if they interest me. Admittedly, I wouldn't say I like Luca or Turning Red as much as Raya or Encanto (better than some of some older WDAS films though, like WIR or BH6, for example), but I do enjoy them both. I was looking forward to re-starting my DMC account whenever I get another advert in the mail (they come every six months or so) to get Encanto, but now I’m thinking I’ll get Luca and/or Turning Red if they’re available for the free 5, too. Not Onward or Soul though, I don't think. Maybe someday if they're ever on DisneyMovieInsiders and I have the points.