Pixar's Turning Red A Family Affair

Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager.

And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda! Directed by Academy Award® winner Domee Shi (Pixar short “Bao”) and produced by Lindsey Collins “Turning Red releases on March 11, 2022.

We recently had the opportunity to pre-screen “Turning Red” and I want to share some thoughts on what we thought about the film!

Late 90’s Early 2000 Vibes

Right off the bat, the film took me back to my days when I was obsessed with *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys, Mei Lee is obsessed with a boy band called “4-town” and they took me back to my teenage years.

The music in the film is one of a kind, which is definitely quite catchy even for my kids who are six and nine years old. How can they not be? I mean they were written and produced by none other than Billie Ellish and her brother Finneas.

FRIENDS FOREVER – In Disney and Pixar’s all-new original feature film “Turning Red,” 13-year-old Mei Lee, a confident-but-dorky teenager with a tightknit group of friends who are passionate about a boy band called 4-Town. Featuring the voices of Rosalie Chiang, Ava Morse, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Hyein Park as Mei, Miriam, Priya and Abby, “Turning Red” opens in theaters on March 11, 2022. © 2021 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Family Pressures

In the film, we see Mei Ling really struggle to make her mother constantly proud of what she does, whether it be in school or outside of school. As a teenager, I also struggled with trying to be the golden child in always making sure everyone in my family approved of me and my choices.

After a while the pressure became overwhelming, and like Mei Ling, it lead to a bit of self-discovery.

In the film, Mei Ling and her family will navigate a series of issues that most pre-teens are dealing with today, and I love how the film opens up these topics for discussion.

LIFE IS GOOD – In Disney and Pixar’s all-new original feature film “Turning Red,” 13-year-old Meilin Lee is happy with her friends, school and, well, most of the time her family—until the day when she begins to “poof” into a giant red panda at decidedly inconvenient times. Featuring Rosalie Chiang as the voice of Meilin, “Turning Red” opens in theaters on March 11, 2022. © 2021 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Red Pandas

The name of the film is “Turning Red” and while we get to see this adorable red panda we also get to see its origin, as well as how many of us could have red pandas within us as well. My kids are a bit younger than the main character however even they were able to decipher what makes this panda appear!

Overall this movie is great for the entire family regardless of age, so make sure you watch this when it comes out on Disney Plus on March 11th!

To help out with your movie night we have some activity pages for you to download!

TURNING RED- ACTIVITY SHEETS