(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Turning Red)
Doug (vo): So I guess this movie is pretty divisive. To tell you the truth, I didn't even do a V-Log of this movie, because I was so divisive on it. I wanted to see the movie again to see if my opinion changed on it. The reason? I thought the first two thirds of this film was ungodly annoying. The main character got on my nerves, I thought the style was obnoxious, the supporting cast was way too one-note, and while I love the idea of this, I remember a lot of my friends looking at the trailer saying, "Oh, man, that looks really annoying", and me saying, "No, no, I think it'll be good", not being aware that the movie, the first two thirds, anyway, is this trailer. It's not like it's cut down, this is the style, this is the pacing. With that said, I thought the last third of this movie was some of Pixar's best. It was funny, it was emotional, it was clever, the style really helped tell the story. Everything with the main character and the side characters was all building up to this, and it was executed brilliantly, some of my favorite in any Pixar movie. So as you can imagine, yeah, I wanted to give this movie a second chance. So, now that I have, is the first two thirds better? Uh...a little.
Story[]
Doug (vo): The story takes place in the early 2000s, because...wow, I guess that's the decade we're getting nostalgic for now...where a Chinese-Canadian girl named Mei is living the best life. She's an overachiever, she's got some great friends, her best buddy is her mom. But all of that changes when one morning, she wakes up and she's this gigantic red panda. Tell me if you heard this one. Whenever her emotions get really strong, she suddenly has powers, and they get out of control. A good chunk of the story is her and her family trying to figure out how to keep her emotions and her power under control, while also figuring out if it needs to be explored or repressed. If you've seen any movie where a person's powers is connected to their emotions, you know which one they're going to choose.
Review[]
Doug (vo): But being totally honest, I love this idea. I really like unique coming-of-age stories like this. I liked it in Teen Wolf, Studio Ghibli did an amazing film called Only Yesterday. I like them because you can connect the metaphor to a lot of unique things that young people are going through when they grow up. I was actually excited to see if this was gonna be kind of vague, like it could be a lot of stuff. It could be sexual identity, it could be physical identity, it could be all sorts of things. Early on, though, they make it very clear the biggest analogy is to when a girl first gets her period. But make no mistake, that's not all it is. I think if they did that literally, a lot of this dialogue would not be taken very well, like, "Repress it, it'll be gone soon, we'll get that out of you." This is more about the complex feelings of going through this, not literally the physical action of going through it. I was actually excited to see Disney finally go this direction, as they did have a chance with Only Yesterday to release a film that does talk about it, but, oh, no, you may need to put a P in front of that G when it actually meant something, so they didn't release it. FYI: That movie is a lot better.
(Footage focusing on some aspects of the film's animation and visual style is shown)
Doug (vo): But while the layout of this story is very good, like, if you were just to show me the script, I'd say, "Yeah, this is pretty solid", the execution is really grating on me. I think this movie is trying to do with that anime simplified big head, big mouth style that's so popular what, say, Hot Fuzz did with the action-cop style or Spider-Verse did with the comic book style. But it either does it too much or not enough. Sometimes, it's so in-your-face, it's unbearable, and then other times, I had to remind myself that's even the style they were doing in this movie. I also had an issue that a lot of the characters moved the same. I had the same issue in Hotel Transylvania 3. I really like how in those movies, there was an extreme, fast style, but everyone still moved uniquely to what the character was demanding. Here, almost everyone has the exact same reactions and movements to everything. It's all that hyper, zig-zagging way of reacting to everything that gets really old really fast, and like I said, there's not much variety.
(Several clips focusing on Mei's three best friends are shown, as well as a few clips focusing on Mei's father and Mei's panda form)
Doug (vo): The friends don't feel like three distinct personalities as much as three distinct jokes. One friend underreacts to everything, another friend overreacts to everything, and the third friend acts like she's cool, but is really awkward. That's it. They hold these expressions throughout the entire movie. I remember thinking of Steven Universe, how the supporting cast in that had such a distinct range of emotion and reactions, but still these distinct personalities. There was such a wide range of expressions to them, where these friends always have the same expressions. The only characters that move uniquely was the father, who barely moves at all, I think that's part of the character, and the panda. I think 'cause she is so big and bulky, I like she did move a little differently, it was hard to hide in different places and stuff like that. I thought the film was working okay when that was onscreen.
(Clips focusing on Ming Lee, Mei's strict and overbearing mother, are shown)
Doug (vo): The mother was way too stupid for me in this. And again, I know what they're trying to do. They're trying to show how much of a connection they have and how much that connection's being challenged when she can't see her as her little girl or best friend anymore. But she was just way too dumb. Even for an awkward parent archetype, this was too much.
(Clips focusing on the film's third act and climax are shown)
Doug (vo): So, okay, wow, you must think I really hate this film. Well, like I said, when it gets to the last third, it really does transform, which I guess figures in a movie about transformation. I so wish I could go into spoilers when talking about this, but I really shouldn't if you haven't seen the film yet. What I can say is, for me, the movie I wanted to see for that first two thirds is represented here. Even though you know the message they're gonna try and get across and you know what the lesson is that the characters are gonna learn, it is done in such a funny, creative, and eventually emotional way that, yes, did remind me of some of those brilliant Ghibli movies, but with a spin that would make sense in the early 2000s. Like, I love how there's a split between Mei and the best friends, but one of the ways they show they're still friends is that one of them still looked after her Gigapet. (A caption suddenly pops up saying "Tamagotchi") Holy shit, that's brilliant. That is something that was set up just as a little nostalgic "Oh, you remember those?" kind of thing, but it surprisingly plays a big part in the story, and it actually plays an even bigger part later. That's kind of how the movie works. Everything you think is just jokes not landing or is kind of awkward does play a gigantic part in the last third. The way all these side characters come together, when you see the threat they have to fight at the end, and the way they fight it off, it made me laugh so hard and so beautifully transitioned into something that was really powerful and emotional. You see these three generations of women and how their issues are kind of passed down to the next and how they change and evolve and what they discover in terms of when they should band together and when they should be their own unique person. And the style of sort of that big, bombastic anime, big mouth, big punches, big sound effects and special effects and stuff help make the points stronger and tell it in a unique way. I absolutely fell in love with this film by the end.
(Several clips focusing on the film's first two acts are shown)
Doug (vo): To where, like I said, I had to watch it again to see if the first two thirds changed. And the only thing that really changed was a lot of stuff that I knew was gonna come up later, I did take notice of a little bit more and I did let slide a little bit if it didn't get a laugh. But, yes, the stupid choices the characters make and the annoying personalities sometimes they would have did still rub me the wrong way.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): But I don't know. How can I not recommend a film that has such a phenomenal third act? This style didn't win me over, but I can easily see it winning a lot of people over. I can see kids really getting into these characters and the extreme reactions and how fast they move, and while maybe too oversimplified at times, I can see them also relating to some of these problems. Even the awkward moments that I found very obnoxious, I can see people kind of quoting years later. Like, you know how people kind of look at A Goofy Movie and say, "Yeah, some stuff in that is dated and doesn't make sense, but it was so unique to that time and it grew a strong connection with us." I can see that happening with this film, too. So I guess the best way I can sum it up is, if you watch the trailer or even just the first five minutes and you're okay with it and you're really getting into it, it's only gonna get better. Stick with it. If you're someone that watches the trailer and the first five minutes, though, and it's just not winning you over, I would still say give it a chance, because if you do get to that last third, you might be won over like I was. And if you're not, well, I think it was still worth a shot. I just can't see myself saying "Skip it" for so many good scenes that just happened to be squished into the last part. And like I said, I think it is a personal preference, like, there are gonna be a lot of people out there that like this style fine, and I don't think it has any bad messages or anything like that. Honestly, I think the message is probably the best part of it. But like I said, I think there are a lot of people who are gonna laugh through this, and maybe form a strong connection with it. Take that for what it's worth, put it on, and see if you, too, start seeing red.
(A scene showing Mei in both of her forms delightfully arriving at the concert is shown)