Turning Red facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Turning Red |
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Official theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Domee Shi |
| Produced by | Lindsey Collins |
| Screenplay by |
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| Music by | Ludwig Göransson |
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| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 1, 2022 (El Capitan Theatre) March 11, 2022 (United States) |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $175 million |
| Money made | $20.1 million |
Turning Red is a fun computer-animated fantasy comedy film from 2022. It was made by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The movie was directed by Domee Shi, who also helped write the story and screenplay. This was her first time directing a full-length movie! It's also the first Pixar film directed only by a woman.
The film features the voices of Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and others. Turning Red is set in Toronto, Canada, in the year 2002. It follows a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl named Meilin "Mei" Lee. Mei has a big secret: she turns into a giant red panda whenever she feels strong emotions! This happens because of a special ability passed down in her family.
Domee Shi, who also directed the short film Bao, created Turning Red based on her own experiences growing up in Toronto. The movie's look and animation were inspired by anime shows. They even added hand-drawn 2D effects to Pixar's 3D animation to get that special style. Making the film took about four years and cost around $175 million. Ludwig Göransson composed the music, and popular singers Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell wrote original songs for the movie's fictional boy band, 4*Town.
Turning Red was first shown in London and Toronto in early 2022. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was mostly released on the Disney+ streaming service on March 11, 2022. In countries without Disney+, it was shown in movie theaters. The film was a big hit and received many awards and nominations, including for Best Animated Feature.
Contents
Mei's Big Secret: The Red Panda Transformation
In 2002, 13-year-old Meilin "Mei" Lee lives in Toronto with her parents, Ming and Jin. Mei helps her family take care of their temple, which honors their ancestor Sun Yee. Mei always tries her best to make her strict mother, Ming, proud. She often hides her own interests, like her love for the boy band 4*Town, from her mom.
One night, Mei's mom finds out about Mei's crush on a local store clerk. This makes Mei feel super embarrassed in front of everyone. That same night, Mei has a strange dream about red pandas. When she wakes up, she discovers something amazing and a little scary: she has turned into a huge red panda! Mei quickly learns that she transforms whenever she feels very strong emotions, like excitement, anger, or embarrassment.
Mei's parents explain that this ability runs in their family. Their ancestor, Sun Yee, was given the power to turn into a red panda to protect her village. Now, all the women in their family have this special gift. However, in modern times, it's not very practical. So, the family plans a ritual during a lunar eclipse to seal Mei's red panda spirit into a talisman.
Mei's friends, Miriam, Priya, and Abby, soon find out about her red panda form. But instead of being scared, they think it's awesome! Mei discovers that focusing on her friends helps her control her transformations.
Friendship, Family, and 4*Town
Mei's mom allows her to go back to her normal life, but she won't let Mei go to the upcoming 4*Town concert. So, Mei and her friends come up with a secret plan. They use Mei's popular red panda form to earn money at school for concert tickets. They even lie to Mei's mom about what Mei is doing.
To get the last bit of money, Mei agrees to go to school bully Tyler's birthday party as the red panda. At the party, Mei finds out the concert is on the same night as her ritual! This makes her furious, and she accidentally attacks Tyler when he insults her family. Mei's mom finds out about everything and blames Mei's friends for her actions. Mei feels ashamed and can't defend her friends.
Mei's grandmother and aunts arrive to help with the ritual. As Mei gets ready, her dad, Jin, finds videos of Mei as the red panda with her friends. He tells her not to be ashamed of this part of herself. During the ritual, Mei decides she wants to keep her red panda powers. She leaves the ritual to go to the concert. In her escape, she accidentally breaks her mom's talisman, which releases Ming's own red panda form!
At the concert, Mei makes up with her friends and even finds out Tyler is a 4*Town fan too. But then, her mom, Ming, who has turned into a giant red panda, crashes the concert! Mei and Ming argue about Mei wanting to be more independent. Mei accidentally knocks her mom out. Mei's grandmother and aunts break their own talismans to help pull Ming into a new ritual circle. Mei's friends and 4*Town sing together to complete the ritual, sending Mei, Ming, and the other women to a special spirit world.
In the spirit world, Mei and her mom talk and make up. Mei also helps her mom fix her relationship with her own mother. The other women seal their red pandas into new talismans. But Mei decides to keep her red panda form, and Ming finally accepts Mei's choice to be herself.
Later, Mei's family raises money to fix the concert stadium. Mei and Ming's relationship is much better. Mei now balances her temple duties (where her red panda form is a fun attraction!) with spending time with her friends, and Tyler is now part of their group.
Meet the Voices Behind the Characters
- Rosalie Chiang as Meilin "Mei" Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl.
- Sandra Oh as Ming Lee, Mei's strict but loving mother.
- Ava Morse as Miriam Mendelsohn, one of Mei's best friends, a singing tomboy with braces.
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Priya Mangal, another of Mei's best friends, who is calm and funny.
- Hyein Park as Abby Park, an energetic and strong Korean-Canadian girl, and the shortest of Mei's friends.
- Orion Lee as Jin Lee, Mei's quiet and supportive father.
- Wai Ching Ho as Wu, Mei's grandmother and Ming's mother.
- Tristan Allerick Chen as Tyler Nguyen-Baker, Mei's classmate who used to pick on her.
- James Hong as Mr. Gao, an elder and friend of the Lee family.
- Addie Chandler as Devon, a store clerk Mei has a crush on.
- Sasha Roiz as Mr. Kieslowski, Mei's teacher.
- Lily Sanfelippo as Stacy Frick, a classmate who sees Mei's red panda form.
- Anne-Marie as Lauren, another classmate (U.K. version).
Mei's aunts are voiced by Lori Tan Chinn, Lillian Lim, Sherry Cola, and Mia Tagano. The members of the 4*Town boy band are voiced by Jordan Fisher, Finneas O'Connell, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo, and Grayson Villanueva.
Making the Movie: Behind the Scenes
How the Idea Started
In 2017, after finishing the Pixar short film Bao, Domee Shi was asked to share ideas for a full-length movie. All her ideas were about teenage girls growing up. The idea that became Turning Red was about a girl going through a "magical transformation" as she gets older. Shi based this on her own experiences growing up in Toronto. She said, "Everyone has been thirteen and feeling like they're turning into some wild, hairy, hormonal beast."
Pixar loved the idea because Domee Shi had a clear vision for Mei and Ming, the two main characters. They felt her personal connection to the story made it special. This movie was part of a new direction at Pixar to tell more personal stories.
Domee Shi was announced as the writer and director in May 2018, making her the first woman to direct a Pixar film by herself. The main creative team for the film was also all female, which happened naturally. The film was made in just four years, which is very fast for a Pixar movie!
Choosing the Voices
Pixar first hired Rosalie Chiang in 2017 to do "scratch vocals" (temporary voices) for the film's development. Rosalie was only 12 years old and lived near Pixar's studio. After two years, when it was time to pick the real voice actors, Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins realized they loved Rosalie's voice so much they couldn't imagine anyone else as Mei! So, Rosalie got the main role.
Sandra Oh was Domee Shi's top choice for Ming. Shi felt that Oh, who is also Canadian, could show all the different feelings they wanted Ming to have.
Designing the World of Turning Red
Setting the Scene in Toronto
The movie takes place in Toronto, Canada, in 2002. The whole city was designed to look like a "magical, idyllic, almost youthful version" of Toronto, seen through Mei's eyes. Domee Shi called the overall look an "Asian tween fever dream." The creators also wanted to capture the feeling of how popular boy bands were in the early 2000s and how much teenage girls loved them.
Pixar animators visited places in Northern California for ideas. They studied red pandas at the San Francisco Zoo and looked at buildings in San Francisco's Chinatown and the Bok Kai Temple.
Inspirations for the Look
Domee Shi said that several anime shows influenced the film, like Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, and Fruits Basket. To get that anime feel, they added hand-drawn 2D animation effects on top of Pixar's 3D animation. Shi was also inspired by My Neighbor Totoro to create a big, huggable animal.
Video games like Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda also influenced the film's style. Shi compared the movie's story to Disney's A Goofy Movie, which is also about a parent and child fixing their relationship with a pop band involved.
The film also talks about the changes that happen as kids grow up. For example, Mei's mom first thinks Mei's transformation is a normal part of growing up. Domee Shi said they were "unapologetic" about showing these topics. The title Turning Red also represents the strong feelings teenagers experience, like embarrassment.
The Music of 4*Town
Ludwig Göransson composed the film's music, which was his first time scoring an animated movie. The film also features three original songs written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell: "Nobody Like U," "1 True Love," and "U Know What's Up." These songs are performed by the fictional boy band 4*Town in the movie. Producer Lindsey Collins was inspired to ask Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell to write the songs because her own child was a fan of their music.
The soundtrack album was released on March 11, 2022. Songs from 4*Town were also released in different languages, sung by boy bands from other countries. The album was popular and appeared on the Billboard music charts.
Promoting the Movie
A first look at the film was shown in December 2020, and the main trailer came out in November 2021. Disney teamed up with Mozilla to promote the film using the Firefox web browser, since red pandas are sometimes called "firefoxes." Users could add custom backgrounds and themes to their browser.
One of the red pandas at the San Francisco Zoo was even renamed Meilin on the day the film was released! Air Canada decorated an airplane with pictures of Mei and her red panda form to promote the movie across Canada. A large statue of Mei as a red panda was placed in Toronto near famous landmarks like the CN Tower, where people could take photos.
Future Plans
Domee Shi has said she is interested in making a follow-up story for Turning Red. Rosalie Chiang and Sandra Oh, the voices of Mei and Ming, have also shared their ideas for a sequel or a prequel.
Images for kids
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Statue of Mei as a red panda
