Turning Red is an animated film on Disney+. It is the first major film by Domee Shi.
Synopsis[]
Young actress Rosalie Chiang lends her voice to Mei Lee, a 13-year-old who suddenly “poofs” into a giant red panda when she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS). Sandra Oh voices Mei Lee’s protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, who is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager. Directed by Shi and produced by Lindsey Collins, Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.
Plot[]
In 2002, Meilin "Mei" Lee is a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl living in Toronto. She helps take care of the family's temple dedicated to their ancestor, Sun Yee, and works to make her strict, overprotective mother Ming proud. Mei hides her personal interests from Ming, such as the fact that she and her best friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby are fans of the boy band 4*Town.
Mei and develop's crush on Devon, the local convenience store clerk; her mother discovers him and unintentionally embarrasses Mei in public, including in front of school bully Tyler, which leads Mei to have a vivid nightmare involving red pandas. The next morning, Mei has transformed into a large red panda. She hides from her parents and discovers that she only transforms when she is in a state of high emotion. Ming initially believes Mei is experiencing her first period, but finds out the truth when she further embarrasses Mei at school, causing Mei to transform and run home.
Ming and Jin, Mei's father, explain that Sun Yee was granted this transformation to protect her daughters, and every female family member since then has also transformed when they came of age. This has become inconvenient and dangerous in the modern age, so the red panda spirit must be sealed in a talisman by a ritual on the night of the Red Moon; the next being in a month's time. Mei's friends discover her transformation but take a liking to it, and Mei finds that concentrating on them helps control the red panda within her.
Ming allows Mei to resume her normal life but refuses to let Mei attend 4*Town's upcoming concert. The girls secretly raise money for the tickets at school, exploiting the popularity of Mei's red panda form. Mei agrees to attend Tyler's birthday party as the red panda to cover the last ticket. At the party, Mei discovers that the concert will be held on her ritual night. She becomes angry and attacks Tyler when he insults her family, scaring the other children. Ming discovers Mei's activities and accuses her friends of corrupting and taking advantage of her. Mei fails to come to her friends' defense because she is ashamed and afraid to stand up to her mother.
Mei's grandmother, Wu, and her aunts come to assist in her ritual, to Ming's dismay. As Mei prepares herself, Jin finds videos she took of herself as the red panda with her friends and tells her she should not be ashamed of this side of her. During the ritual, as Mei's red panda form is about to be sealed, Mei decides to keep her powers. She abandons the ritual to attend the concert at the SkyDome with her friends, who forgive Mei for her actions at the party and discover Tyler is also a 4*Town fan. However, during her escape from the temple, Mei inadvertently damaged her mother's talisman; an enraged Ming transforms into a kaiju-sized red panda and disrupts the concert, intending to take back Mei by force. Mei and Ming argue about Mei's independence, and as they fight, Mei accidentally knocks her mother out.
The rest of the family arrive to help. The women break their talismans to use their red panda forms to help drag Ming into a new ritual circle. Mei's friends and 4*Town join in singing to complete the ritual, sending Mei, Ming, and the other women to the astral plane. Mei reconciles with Ming and helps her mend her bond with Wu, whom Ming accidentally scarred in anger at some point years ago before sealing her red panda form. The other women conceal their red pandas in new talismans, but Mei decides to keep hers, and Ming accepts that she is finding her own path.
Later, as the Lee family raises money to repair the damage caused at the SkyDome, Mei and Ming's relationship has improved, as Mei balances her temple duties—where her red panda is now an attraction—with spending time with friends, now including Tyler.
Cast[]
- Rosalie Chiang as Meilin / Panda Meilin (voice)
- Sandra Oh as Ming / Panda Ming / Young Ming (voice)
- Ava Morse as Miriam (voice)
- Hyein Park as Abby (voice)
- Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Priya (voice)
- Orion Lee as Jin (voice)
- Wai Ching Ho as Grandma / Grandma Panda (voice)
- Tristan Allerick Chen as Tyler (voice)
- Lori Tan Chinn as Auntie Chen (voice)
- Mia Tagano as Lily (voice)
- Sherry Cola as Helen (voice)
- Lillian Lim as Auntie Ping (voice)
- James Hong as Mr. Gao (voice)
- Jordan Fisher as Robaire (4*Town) (voice)
- Finneas O'Connell as Jesse (4*Town) (voice)
- Topher Ngo as Aaron T. (4*Town) (voice)
- Grayson Villanueva as Tae Young (4*Town) (voice)
- Josh Levi as Aaron Z. (4*Town) (voice)
- Sasha Roiz as Mr. Kieslowski (voice)
- Addie Chandler as Devon (voice) (as Addie Chandler)
- Lily Sanfelippo as Stacy Frick (voice)
- Evan Agos as Additional Voices (voice)
- Trinity Jo-Li Bliss as Additional Voices (voice)
- Devin Bright as Additional Voices (voice)
- Kimberly Brooks as Additional Voices (voice)
- Addison Chandler as Additional Voices (voice) (as Addie Chandler)
- David Chen as Additional Voices (voice) (as David Jordan Chen)
- Ian James Corlett as Additional Voices (voice)
- Juliet Donenfeld as Additional Voices (voice)
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ellen Dubin as Additional Voices (voice)
- Alison Fernandez as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jack Fisher as Additional Voices (voice)
- Erin Fitzgerald as Additional Voices (voice)
- Fong Fong Poon as Additional Voices (voice) (as Lily Poon Fong-Fong)
- Hadley Gannaway as Additional Voices (voice)
- Kim Mai Guest as Additional Voices (voice)
- David Hayter as Additional Voices (voice)
- Karen Huie as Additional Voices (voice)
- Caleb Jeon as Additional Voices (voice)
- Arif S. Kinchen as Additional Voices (voice)
- Sean T. Krishnan as Additional Voices (voice)
- Paul Kwo as Additional Voices (voice)
- James Taku Leung as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ethan Loh as Additional Voices (voice)
- Lydia Look as Additional Voices (voice)
- Noel Mason as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jason Maybaum as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jaiden Alexander McLeod as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ulka Simone Mohanty as Additional Voices (voice)
- Iara Nemirovsky as Additional Voices (voice)
- Capri Oliver as Additional Voices (voice)
- Benjamin Plessala as Additional Voices (voice)
- Tsang Pui-Yee as Additional Voices (voice)
- Maddix Robinson as Additional Voices (voice)
- Zeno Robinson as Additional Voices (voice)
- Sasha Roiz as Additional Voices (voice)
- Vivienne Rutherford as Additional Voices (voice)
- Lily Sanfelippo as Additional Voices (voice)
- Violet Grace Schaffer as Additional Voices (voice)
- Mariel Sheets as Additional Voices (voice)
- Christian J. Simon as Additional Voices (voice)
- Artemis Snow as Additional Voices (voice)
- Sydney Thomas as Additional Voices (voice)
- Timothy Tse-sing Cheng as Additional Voices (voice) (as Cheng Tse-Sing)
- Benjamin Valic as Additional Voices (voice)
- Shondalia White as Additional Voices (voice)
- Cedric L. Williams as Additional Voices (voice)
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