Turning Red<\/a>. Mei, a confident 13-year-old living in early noughties Toronto, is already beginning to suffer some of the downsides of adolescent angst when all of a sudden she finds herself being intermittently transformed into a giant red panda, hardly the thing she needed to calm her nerves.<\/p>\nShe\u2019s understandably rather dismayed \u2013 and extremely embarrassed \u2013 by the unusual metamorphosis, but soon finds a way to try and use it to her benefit. Taking advantage of the bemused wonder her newfound ability inspires in her classmates, she attempts to make use of the unwanted talent to raise funds so she can attend a gig by her favourite boyband, 4Town. And this being a Pixar film, of course, she learns some important and valuable life lessons along the way \u2013 about friendship, about the complex inner lives of her parents, and about the history of her Chinese Canadian family.<\/p>\n
Turning into a giant red panda is perhaps not the most subtle of metaphors for puberty, but the film is proudly loud in its approach throughout, full of a rather hectic energy that mostly works in its favour but occasionally feels a bit much. That frantic visual style can certainly take a little getting used to, especially after the relative quaintness of Pixar\u2019s most recently released film Luca<\/a>, but it does allow director Domee Shi plenty of leeway to firmly stamp her authority on the story.<\/p>\n