Check out my new review of Disney’s NEW Turning Red!! Turning Red Review, Click Here!

Check out this funky fun girl! Domee Shi really worked it to make this 90’s period piece perfect for women’s history month! Also, fun fact: the making of this movie can be better explained in Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red.

Great message: honor your parents, but don’t forget to also honor yourself! Meilin Lee is adorably relatable, especially to those of us who grew up in the 90’s. She does what she wants and loves life! Her best friends seem to love life right along with her. Intuitive Miriam has braces and good parents. Priya is a brooding book smart girl who likes vampire love mysteries and loves deeply. Abby is a cute Asian kid who doesn’t mind a fight to stand up for her friends. The best kind of best friends a girl could ever need. Going through her classes, Meilin is brilliant at everything, except for basketball! Even at grade eight, she has straight A’s. Boy. Boy. Boy alert. The girls almost look like they’re about to pull a heist at this grocery store, but they’re just checking out a boy. Not uh. Meilin reminds them that real men = 4 Town. Dance off!! They remind Meilin to save time for herself instead of just chores, chores, chores.

Little do they know that Meilin actually enjoys her chores. She adores her parents and the time she spends with them. Another great message for kids nowadays! Thanks Disney! Her and Mom pray together. Peace and joy. Together they take on the world — of cleaning the temple! Mother and daughter work together and take a breath together, so endearing. The father clearly is a great cook; reminiscent of Ratatouille the way he adds the spices. 4 Town! The coveted band! But Mom really doesn’t approve. The posters in Meilin’s room really represent her life: Study, Work, Listen.  But Meilin is just like almost every thirteen-year-old girl. She doodles and it turns into more, the guy she drew starts to seem attractive to her – what? Attraction? What is this madness?! [Mov. 11:24-11:54]. She hides under her bed and draws her fantasies.

What’s worse, Mom comes in, and – oh no. She sees the notebook, disgusted. There’s no chance of stopping a mother on a mission! [Mov. 12:59-13:09] She immediately blames the boy Meilin drew and TOTALLY EMBARASSES MEILIN! Oh my gosh how could this be happening?! Ming, have you ever been a teenage girl before? Meilin has never been more embarrassed, her world is destroyed! She blames herself and [Mov. 14:51-14:56]. How hard it is to be perfect. Nightmares arise in her mind, something very red. Very dark and scary, she moans in her sleep. Red pandas everywhere and a giant moon. Freaky floppy boys and fish and flowers. Something about her ancestors and Chinese culture.

Perfect breakfast for a perfect girl – girl?! Nope! She’s a giant red panda! Talk about freaking out, this is even worse! Whoa she yells at her mom and then yells at herself too. Poor girl. And her mom doesn’t know, she thinks it’s just period stuff. Meilin tries to compose herself and brushes her face with two brushes. Yeah, that would feel good to us too if we were covered in fur. Calm equals red hair girl, emotional equals red panda. This movie is written really well.

Annoying kid at school is annoying. Don’t let your panda show, Meilin! She tries to control her emotions and Miriam asks what’s up. It can’t just be the quadratic formula that she’s so excited about. “Your mom is outside!” [Mov. 22:49-22:59]. Alright, Ming, you’re taking this to another level of crazy. Unfortunately Meilin now has a secret to protect, she can’t get emotional! But she does. Red panda for the win! It’s happened and now it can’t be undone. RUN! Hilarious how she pushes this girl back into the bathroom. More funny moments: [Mov. 24:47-24:53]. Okay again, RUN! Oh my gosh she’s destroying the city! Running atop rooftops, flying past old men gardening their plants on their balcony. Mommy Ming is following her dramatically. Oh Meilin, so cute, but so scared and emotional. She bursts into the temple, Ming following her. The house is destroyed. Couldn’t just walk in and cry, you had to destroy everything too? Yikes. [Mov. 26:25-26:44]. What. Did. You. Say?

Momma Ming explains everything. There’s an ancient curse on their family that every woman turns into a red panda at a certain age when they’re emotional. They can only control it and be human at will if they can harness their emotions in a positive way. Sun Yee was the one who passed this blessing slash inconvenience along. Meilin is furious! Are. You. Serious?! Wait, wait, wait. There’s a cure?! Oh…. Hold the crazy red panda phone. You can put the red panda into a pendant or some other kind of piece of jewelry on the next red moon. This is called the ritual. Comfort. What good parents. Wilfred, the comforting stuffed animal looks so familiar to current times, but the movie is set in the 90’s. We love how this perfect combination of style makes us feel right at home and reminiscent at the same time. Love. This movie definitely gets a ten out of ten for comfort and style. Let’s keep watching though to see how the plot pans out. Plus, we gotta know what happens to her panda. Could you control your emotions?

Meilin’s friends show up at her window out of love. Now they know. Oh gosh, what will they think?! They adore her! Don’t worry Mei, we love you no matter what species you are! [Mov. 33:29-34:34], can we just keep this scene forever?! Her friends’ love neutralizes the panda! Love conquers all emotions just like how Betty Ross can calm Hulk down.

And now the testing happens. Meilin passes every test. What is this box?! Kittens! How dare they! Don’t react, don’t react, you got this! Focus on the love and you’ll be gravy. Miriam, Abby, Priya, focus. Love. Now time to ask about the concert. WHAT?! No concert?! She worked so hard on this presentation. Not to mention, she’s such a good kid. Why does no one listen to Dad? Celine Dion? This is totally a period piece, it’s so great! We can see here there is a line of issues through their ancestry. [Mov. 39:22-39:28]. Meilin loses it at school and chucks the ball through the window. Red panda at school!? Fight the power and become women by going to the 4 Town concert. But how will we ever raise the money?!

Naturally, the answers come up to her in the form of teenage classmates who would give away their soul just to see the red panda. Montage time, let’s rock! Operation 4Town Shake Down, commence! Step one: neutralize the empress. Step two: spread the word. Step three: hustle this panda and squeeze every last loonie out of those kids! [Mov. 43:44-44:00]. Merch sales, the works! But no Tyler’s! “You want it, I want it!” Let’s go. Even Momma Ming can’t touch this! Groovy dance.

However, hiding it under her bed – big mistake. Now come on Meilin, give us a bit of a break. Take a break for yourself. [Mov. 46:17-46:24], she definitely has a point! Are you a triangle, cause you acute! Blackmail Tyler. Blackmail for a birthday party? Ugh, Tyler you ruin everything. Alright, whatever, it’ll get us the money. But don’t think you’re doing us a favor by not being a snitch.

Favorite dinner? Oh man, major sacrifice. But this is 4Town we are talking about! Mom’s trying to come with me?! Whaaaat?! How do I get out of this?! Please Mom stop! Standing up for myself feels pretty damn good – what’s that noise? Even the cats are scared! Powerful Women of her family arrive. Tyler’s party’s getting funky – not. Where is she?! Gotta go Aunties, need some “rest” shhh actually I’m going to Tyler’s party. Grandma’s onto her. The world will end and the ritual will fail if you don’t keep your red panda inside [Mov. 52:40-52:51].

Time to partayyy! But what about what Grandma said? Yikes. Box panda instead! Brillia—not. Red panda out! Now it’s really time to paaaartayyyy! This movie is about strong friendships! There’s even a shooting star across the sky when they’re chillin on the rooftop. They support Meilin no matter what! She punches Tyler in the face. Gets kicked out of the party. Even when she – disses her friends to side with her mother who’s totally wrong?! How could she?! Ouch.

Life continues on both sides: Meilin preparing for the ritual, the girls going to 4Town without her… broken friendships make everyone heartbroken, but life continues because well, that’s life. [Mov. 1:03:03-1:03:05], my “true self”, are you sure this is my true self? Daddy comes to show Meilin who her true self really is: she’s both the red panda and the girl. Both make up Meilin, not just one hiding the other. It’s time. What will you choose, Meilin? We watch her struggle to get rid of the panda until… I’m keeping it! AND I’m going to the damn concert! Ming loses it and because her pendant broke, she becomes a GIANT RED PANDA!

The friends of course welcome Meilin back, because what are true friends for?! Tyler is a 4Townie?! The concert is destroyed by the crazy red panda version of Ming. Everyone bands together to save her, including 4Town thanks to Miriam! [Mov. 1:20:24-1:21:14]. Note her name and how it relates to Miriam who saves the day in Prince of Egypt? So all the women end up in the alternate ritual universe. Ming and Meilin relate on the same level and Meilin teaches Ming something valuable, [Mov. 1:22:47-1:23:12]. You don’t have to be perfect to be loved. Her mom still loves her despite their fight. Now the choice: Meilin stands by her true self and remains with her red panda! Now she’s working in the temple and going out with her friends with however much red panda she wants to include in her life at a time! [Mov. 1:27:35-1:27:44]. Her panda, her decision! Life is great, and everyone gets to be themselves! Perfect ending to a perfect ten out of ten movie! Only critique is why did Disney have to depict the parents as the villains? But don’t forget parents are humans too! Love can make us a little coo-coo, but we try! Not to mention, these lessons are valuable, so it’s still the perfect family movie of 2022!