Growing up is a beast: Pixar’s Turning Red releases teaser trailer + poster

(image courtesy IMP Awards)

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Turning Red will be led by young actress Rosalie Chiang as she lends her voice to Mei Lee, a 13-year-old who suddenly “poofs” into a giant red panda when she gets too excited. Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) voices Mei Lee’s protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, who is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager.

The film is directed by Domee Shi, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-winning Pixar short Bao … known as the first woman to direct a short film for the acclaimed animation studio, Shi has been a Pixar mainstay and has worked on a number of iconic films as a storyboard artist including Inside Out, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4. (synopsis courtesy Coming Soon)

Pixar’s talented and creative team have a real knack for coming up with feature films that deliver an amazing emotional punch.

And honestly, based on a teaser trailer alone, it looks like they are set to do this all over again with Turning Red.

Even in the trailer’s short but well-used running time, you get a beautiful sense of what growing up is like when all the attendant stresses of figuring out who you are and dealing with feeling like a fish out of water socially are amplified by factors over which you can’t control.

For this blogger, it was endless bullying but for Mei Lee, it’s an overly attentive parent who is bringing more pressure to bear than their child, already caught between a rock and a hard place at school, can bear.

No doubt it will resolve the situation with grace, good humour and insightful empathy, and all done hopefully in a year where COVID is not adding to the weight of out collective existential angst.

Turning Red opens on 11 March 2022 in USA and 31 March 2022 in Australia.

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