Disney/Pixar’s Turning Red might have echoes of Teen Wolf to it — the 80s version, not the MTV version — but here’s my bet: there’s a lot more resonance here, using transformation into an animal as something more than just a clever metaphor to springboard into comedy. There will be comedy, but director Domee Shi has likely created a culturally specific story that a white werewolf basketball player couldn’t touch.
It may not be a movie for old fanboys, and we might not be talking about Billie Eilish and FINNEAS’ songs for 4*Town quite the same way we don’t talk about Bruno, but Turning Red will find its audience, and probably turn it to tears. It’s even easier with the March 11 release being straight on Disney+. Though that’s a topic for others to argue, the truth is that no one at Disney could be positive audiences would come out for a family film in March. No one could be positive. So… here’s to the streaming, and hoping that by June we can go to theaters for Lightyear.
We’ve got a panoply of posters with most if not all of the emotions that would turn 13-year-old Mei Lee (Rosalie Chiang) into a red panda. Heck, it might even do the same for her mother (Sandra Oh). We’ll see.
