Turning Red (2022)

This movie is in the running for Best Animated movie in the 2023 Oscar race, which surprised me, having watched several other movies in contention for a nomination that I thought were on par or better. It takes on two themes, one of them universal and one less often tackled. The first is adolescence. The main character is thirteen-year-old Mei Lee, who is just like any other high-achieving nerd from a loving, slightly smothering Chinese-Canadian family. Then her hormones kick in. Like many kids at this pivotal moment, her emotions take on a life of their own. What sets Mei Lee apart is the fact that her emotions also take on a form of their own: at moments of extreme excitement, she turns into a large red panda. Which brings me to the other unusual component of this movie, which is that it depicts the Asian immigrant experience. This is the area where I was a little less awed by how this was handled, seeing a lot of cliches about Asians depicted. The one theme that is universal is the mother-daughter struggle--which this movie gives an inter-generationaly spin on, and the kinship of friends to rely on at this transitional age. It is worth watching, and who knows, it might even win!