I'm a gross red monster!

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2022

#10 :  Turning Red

Crank up the 4*TOWN, because Domee Shi’s debut directorial feature Turning Red proved a Pixar knockout. Rosalie Chiang voices Mei, a Chinese-Canadian tween who, upon hitting puberty, begins to harness a power passed down to her through generations – the ability to transform into a giant red panda when overcome with emotion. Infused with influences from Shi’s own childhood (Anime! Boybands! Tamagotchis!) this is not Pixar as you know it – there’s no adventure, no fetch-quest, no traditional structure. Instead, it’s a coming-of-age movie through and through, where the real mission for Mei is accepting herself, her heritage, and the inevitable changes in her relationship with her mother Ming (Sandra Oh) as she gets older – oh, and getting to the biggest pop concert in town. 

This is an odd one because I've seen it and pretty much all I can tell you about it is that it's absolutely charming.  I could watch it again to remind myself what was so charming about it, but I can also tell you that I really didn't care enough about it to do so.

I do remember thinking it desperately wanted to be Inside Out.  It obviously didn't make it there in terms of memorableness but it was a fine enough second-tier Pixar movie - think Soul but aimed at kids.  And the voice acting and the animation were all perfectly passable, but not exactly memorable (as you've probably guessed).

Yes, this is a terrible write-up but if you've not seen it then it's worth a watch, although I can't imagine too many people come back for repeat views - and it's obviously on Disney+ if you need it.

#11 - So much better than I was expecting
#9 - Impressive, if confusing