Turning red (2022)

So, overall I do like this movie. It’s great that Pixar thought of doing a typical puberty movie, and also trying to explore that side a bit more. I mean, they kinda already did it with »inside out«, but it’s a bit different this time.

What bugs me is the fact that the main struggle was going to the concert. I get the fact that most kids are like her and will throw a total tantrum when they can’t go to that one specific concert, but... it was a bit too exaggerated.

Yes, okay, the whole movie was in a sense exaggeration. But while one thing (eg the panda) was a metaphor, the other thing (the concert) was the main aim of the plot and meant to serve as a development for all characters. And that felt off. Well, at least for me. I mean, it’s just a concert. It might be a great feeling and if you like going to concerts, you do you, but it does feel a bit weird for me to make this the main goal throughout the whole movie. Couldn’t it be something bigger, like traveling for example? At least you gain sth while traveling, instead of going to one concert. And the message could’ve been entirely the same. And more people could relate.

Another thing is the animation. I do love the “special effects” and generally the details of the animation. The background is perfect honestly. The food, the water, the hair/fur, reflections, etc. Beautiful.

The designs of the humans are what is bothering me, i guess. It’s not bad, although not my favorite either, just a bit overused.

What I always loved about Pixar is their constant change of animation. Compared to Disney, Pixar never had that one main style, it was always diverse. They mostly kept it realistic, like dreamworks, but you could still tell it’s a Pixar movie and not from a different studio.

But since onward, they’ve been keeping this. I get it, they invented it and wanna keep it. Kinda be known for it I guess, like Disney for theirs. It just feels weird.

Hope they’ll get more diversity into their human characters in their future movies. And less... this.

What I did like, plot-wise, was how they pointed out how wrong and toxic helicopter-parents are. I’ve had them too and could relate to mei throughout the movie a lot. Although I didn’t share the same goals as mei (going to the concert so badly), I did get her anger. And her mother made me angry a lot. The grandma too.

I did love the dad, especially towards the ending we got to see more of him, although it bugs me that he never said anything to the mom.

The friends were cool too.

Well, even though it kinda annoys me that they never really talked about mei’s goals or how she was feeling (I mean mei yelled it once at her and the 2nd time we hear it from her mom’s perspective, but that’s not really what I meant. I mean actually sitting down, at a quite place, and listening).

But it’s a good movie overall. Wouldn’t count it as my fav, and the re-watch value isn’t that high either, but it’s good.

I think it’s also the matter with the animation style that is bugging me so much.