Friday, March 11 the newest Disney Pixar movie Turning Red was released to the streaming platform Disney Plus. Although the movie was not released to theaters and was rather released straight to Disney Plus, it still has become a massive success. Critics have praised the plot, casting, and diversity. 

This coming of age story is set in Toronto in 2002 and follows a thirteen-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl named Meilin Lee. In the movie, Meilin discovers that when she feels any emotion too strong she turns into a giant red panda and must find a way to control it. Lee will soon find that balancing her newfound power/curse, her friends, and most importantly family will be harder than expected. 

The movie does an excellent job of representing Chinese culture and is filled with diversity. Thunder Ridge senior Hannah Jackson says, “The movie had a really good representation of the characters’ cultures and was full of people with varying ethnic backgrounds which I really liked especially as an Asian person who does not get see people who look like me represented on the screen that often. Overall the movie Turning Red was a great way to represent growing up and changing while also representing Asian culture.”

The movie Turning Red overall is a fantastic coming-of-age film that is full of diversity, fun, humor, and a little bit of magic. It is definitely the type of movie that will become a go-to Disney film for many.  

Photo Credit: regmovies.com