PixMix Episode 29: Turning Red

In this episode of PixMix, Arun and Patricia discuss about the 2022
Pixar film Turning Red directed by Domee Shi, making her the first
solo female director since Brenda Chapman's co-directed Brave back
in 2012. The film takes place in 2002 where a 13-year-old
Chinese-Canadian girl named Meilin Lee who is going through the
struggles of trying to please her strict mother Ming, yet trying to
being herself with her friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby, especially
with their favorite boy band 4Town. One morning, she wakes up and
finds herself transformed into a giant red panda whenever she has
strong emotions. Meilin must make the decision on whether to take
her family's advice and remove the red panda or her friends' advice
and embrace it.   When the film was released on Disney+, it
made $2.5 million dollars on its opening weekend and became the #1
premiere film globally receiving positive reviews from critics
calling it "ambitious", "unique", and "risk taking" with its
metaphors of puberty. However, similar to Domee Shi's short Bao, it
became controversial with animation critics, Disney and Pixar fans,
and Christian parents calling it "inappropriate", teaching kids to
disobey their parents, limited with its universal appeal,
"Cal-Arts" art style, and feeling “out of place" compared to other
Pixar films. What did Arun and Patricia think of the film? Listen
and find out.