Turning Red (Pixar)

johnny_ultimate

On-Gaku remains the most criminally underseen of recent animated films. It boasts a deceptively crude art style that's used and subverted to create some of the most expressive, energetic animated sequences of recent years. And it's absolutely hilarious to boot, with the kind of deadpan humour that's both fresh and admirably 90s.

https://youtu.be/KoqptivRx_0

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118462630#Comment_118462630

Didn't think I'd like that trailer from the art style of the YouTube snapshot but that looks very funny (Love the deadpan delivery). Must check this out.

KerryM9

My word this was one silly film. Poor effort by Pixar. Can't understand the high scores and such glowing comments by the critics.

johnny_ultimate

I thought it was really good - my favourite Pixar film since The Incredibles 2, and the freshest and most surprising thing they’ve done since the WALL-E / Up golden era. And I think that’s because they mostly keep it small - just a fun story about the goofiness, embarrassment and confusion of adolescence, and in a more honest way than you’d usually find in American animation. Doome Shi directs the hell out of - all vibrant colours, high energy and delightful little stylistic flourishes. For all Pixar’s supposed debt to Studio Ghibli, this is the first time a strong anime influence is really evident in both the visual storytelling and editing. And details such as the painterly Toronto skylines are just gorgeous and a real break from the Pixar house style.

It’s not perfect by any stretch - the big spectacular climax feels like it kinda betrays the defiantly low-stakes the film has focused on up until that point. The central panda metaphor also gets really stretched over the course of the film (although the whole manic initial transformation sequence where they make it an overt ‘first period’ metaphor is a delight - genuinely not the type of thing I ever thought you’d get in a Disney / Pixar film). But on the whole it was a cool example of Pixar stretching their wings - and IMO more successfully than either Soul or Luca.

KerryM9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776561#Comment_118776561

Fair enough, each to their own. 90 minutes I won't get back. There was no depth at all to the story, you saw where it was going from early on and it went exactly along that path with no surprises whatsoever. And the ride along the way was silly, not in a funny way. For me.

megaten

Watched it yesterday and was really impressed. First Pixar movie I've seen since maybe Monsters University and was really impressed by how much things have come on visually. Feels like in the past couple of years as 3D techinqies have matured that amrican studios are really begnning to flex artistically with the medium brought on by how advanced lighting and materials have come on.

KerryM9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778679#Comment_118778679

I'm well aware what the message was, it was obvious less than half an hour in.

KerryM9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118779516#Comment_118779516

Not depth of message or ideology, depth of storytelling, I'm talking about the film itself and not the message the film wants to get across as the takeaway. I agree with this message and it's a very positive message, but as a film the story was barebone and shallow.

pixelburp

Firstly, it's an absolute crime this was yet another Pixar film without a cinema release ... and that goes double when the film was as enjoyable, heartfelt and funny as it was. I just hope the digital release allows as many people as possible to see this. Especially for having the "nerve" to compassionately talk about a subject 50% of planet earth experiences - but is habitually treated like a taboo.

Yeah there's an argument this has a napkin sized amount of actual story, but when it was carried off with such style, energy and humanity as this, the journey never felt dull or stretched. After a few movies chasing a photorealistic aesthetic, it was refreshing to watch something more stylistic and akin to older Pixar flicks; this movie reminded me they remain masters of comic timing, animated or not.

Flinty997

I think its a confused movie. Its message seems to be pitched at a older child. The style and story of the movie seems very much pitched at a younger child. Its pop culture references are very asian but its not set in asia. I think they were trying to appeal to everyone and I think this goes against it. TBH the trailer is like a trailer for a different film. Looked great. But I stopped watching about a third of the way in. I was wondering what the kids who I assume its pitched at thought of it, and only the youngest child I asked liked it.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781670#Comment_118781670

For context, the director-writer Domee Shi is Canadian-Chinese, and grew up in Toronto; going by Wikipedia she would have been 15 during 2002 - so I'd speculate a lot of the family material drew inspiration from Shi's own upbringing and youth, that push and pull between her two worlds. I'm going to presume her family doesn't have an issue with turning into Red Pandas mind you 😂

I think you missed on a quality movie in stopping that soon in. And while I didn't watch it with kids that I could gauge the demographic, I think the film's theme was spot-on, via the blunt analogy the Panda served as: that transformative change girls go through, often without warning and inconsistently that it takes parents by surprise as much as the children. I'd wonder how well this movie might have played with mothers and daughters, especially those who might remember that time (I'm not female so taking big swings there, but by all accounts it's kind of obscene how much of a forbidden topic it is).

Flinty997

The issue I have its pitched too young stylistically, story. While its analogies target is older kids, pre teens. if you say its a nostalgia piece fair enough. But I think its too childish to have much appeal to an older audience. If you consider what 9~13 watch even in age ratings they are usually a lot more sophisticated than this.

From what I've read, and I could be wrong I got the impression the director said its aimed specifically at a eastern female demographic. Perhaps their kids are watching more childish content older, or more mature content younger. In which case I'm not meant to get it.

johnny_ultimate

The anime influence IMO helps explain a lot of where this is pitched at tonally and stylistically. Japanese 'high school fantasy' animation and fantasy is often pitched bright and broad, and Domee Shi has been very clear her team was influenced a lot by the like of Sailor Moon. That kind of anime would blur the line of what many western audiences would typically expect from content aimed specifically at kids and content aimed specifically at teens, but also has an ever-increasing cultural footprint outside Asia. But honestly I found the film's colourful style and goofy energy totally endearing, and its tackling of more adolescent themes (while still being family-friendly viewing) a long-overdue departure from the Pixar norm. The mix of western and Asian influences in the style felt absolutely pitch-perfect for the characters and themes.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-03-11/turning-red-explained-disney-plus-director-domee-shi

Flinty997

It certainly has that Asian boy band/ anime thing going on.

Be interested in how it does commercially. I don't think anyone's going openly criticize it upfront for fear of a backlash.

S.M.B.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118782832#Comment_118782832

I hadn't realised that Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell wrote the 4 Town songs. I was quite surprised to find myself humming them days after initially watching.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118782966#Comment_118782966

I've seen plenty of lukewarm responses on letterbox; why would people fear a backlash any more than any other critical opinion on Popular Film X? Its Last Act ain't great and that's a bit of a consensus ATM; it suffers from just throwing spectacle at a story that was - up to that point - extremely small scale and mundane. It definitely hasn't been immune from criticism.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118782642#Comment_118782642

I think that's a definite YMMV going on when it comes to style. 9-13 is a very strange age, such that these days it has its own term with "tween" - somewhere between a child and teenager. My kid is barely a toddler so I'm far from that point - but my 11 year old niece would be within that bracket and definitely within that weird halfway stage. Myself? I'd not have said the style was overly alienating in being too childish, while the movie's themes would surely be quite relatable for kids going through the same changes themselves (or those older who might remember). Especially mothers and daughters, with that very particular bond and the scariness of catching that transformative change that can happen around that time.

I'd go so far as to say it's a worthy companion piece to Inside Out, albeit more sentimental and less sad than the older movie. Yeah, the style is bouncier, more energetic and full of sugar - but that hides a depth IMO.

At the very least, I'd suggest at least finishing the movie and get an overall sense of the thing yourself - maybe the aesthetic caught you in the wrong mood 😁

flazio

If the Red Panda is meant to be a mystical period metaphor then shouldn't the Granny's panda have died before the story started? Also I was convinced that the granny was voiced by Michelle Yeoh when she spoke first. Surprised it wasn't her.

I commend Pixar for going there and facing the girl to woman conversation head on but it suffered the same 3rd act problem that's plaguing it's cousins over at Marvel Studios. I thought the mother was very poorly written, one moment supportive of her daughter, the next completely flying off the handle and turning into Pandazilla.

Also why the 20 year (oh God I'm old) jump back? Was it to remove plot devices such as phones and computers in use by children?

There's a spark missing at Pixar at the moment. Main House of Mouse productions like Raya and Encanto and other studio stuff like Spider-verse, Mitchells vs The Machines and Klaus are doing better jobs at both entertaining and pulling at heart strings.

TheIrishGrover

I must say, I enjoyed that. I thought it was very cute and funny. I liked the style. As others have said, similar character design in ways to Luca. But I think this is a definite choice. Sort of their tween growing-pains genre, if you will. I don't think it's any general shift in their overall Pixar-style.

I enjoyed the anime influences (especially the kawaii reactions) and I'm glad to see these styles crossing in both directions while still maintaining their own style (One can look at Mamoru Hosoda's "Belle" to see the slightly more Western animation when in the online universe which then switches to very typical contemporary anime style when in the real world).

I actually don't think it suffered from a 3rd Act problem. The mother may have been a bit underwritten/weak but then, from an Asian/American, Asian/Canadian POV this may be absolutely a well-loved clichè (I'm thinking of one of my favourite comedy shows: The Royale Family. Trying to explain to an American colleague how funny a mundane conversation about not having kit-kats with a cup of tea can be).

So, tldr: I thought this was fun and cute. Is it Toy Story 2 or 3? No. But I think it's their best work in years. (I was a bit underwhelmed by Luca and Soul and Onward TBH).

But that damn song is an earworm

onemoreopinion

Watched this today and I loved it. Disappointed I didn't have movies like it when I was younger.

poppysee

I really enjoyed Turning Red. The film starts of lighthearted and funny but slowly dives into the discomforts of being a teen that's going through puberty, any young teenager or anyone who has been through the teenage stage would definitely find this film relatable and nostalgic.