Turning Red
Wow! This one was something unexpected! The nostalgic emotions it kindled inside me are totally priceless. I enjoyed it scene by scene. It kind of depicted how normal my hormones and brain worked when I was 13 or generally teens without me actually knowing what was happening to me. Well, just that, at that age we all feel weird, but it’s totally normal and healthy.
I actually thought this would be boring but damn I was totally wrong. From the very first scene, the vibe in this was totally awesome and made me feel that sparkle in my eyes!
Disclaimer: This contains spoilers. Continue reading it, if you are the type of person who doesn’t mind being spoiled.
The story starts with Meilin Lee introducing herself mainly pointing out how she’s going to do her own thing cause she’s 13 and she’s officially grown-up or at least according to Toronto Transit Commission. Then, she introduces her gang consisting of Miriam, Priya, and Abby. They are a group of besties ready to change the world. Well, many have different labels for Mei but as far as she’s concerned, she’s 13 and she is the main character.
This group of besties, on their way to change the world, spot Devon, an uninterested 17-year-old boy at a convenience store. They all have a crush on that boy except Mei who refuses it and reminds them that 4*TOWN is forever and always at the top. For your information, 4*TOWN is their favorite boy band.
But Priya reminds them that tickets to the 4*TOWN are expensive but Devon was right there. This brings them back to reality and Mei rushes to go for cleaning while her friends call her for karaoke which she eventually denies. Miriam gifts Mei a CD of 4*TOWN which makes Mei elated. Then, she rushes to the temple to help her mom with the temple duties, stating she’s got responsibilities and she’s her own person but that doesn’t mean she gets to do whatever she wants. This actually reminded me of certain things like peer pressure and societal acceptance that would actually make us be liked by others. Well, human beings like to be liked right. And sometimes, it would forcefully make you feel right, for example, if you like certain things others don’t approve of, you’ll forcefully start convincing yourself that you don’t like it.
She goes to the temple and does everything that made her mom proud of her and she’s glad her mom is happy. Later, she and her mom watch T.V in their home, and 4*TOWN pops up. This makes Mei excited but as soon as her mom doesn’t find them as a “ good influence” which makes her swallow in all her excitement. She then goes to her room and listens to the CD that Miriam gave while doodling. She subconsciously doodles Devon thinking about what Miriam sees in him but later she finds she too subconsciously has a crush on Devon. She gets embarrassed about herself but starts doodling more. The way they have portrayed this kind of feeling is literally accurate. All of a sudden, her mom enters the room and Mei tries to hide the book from her mom but eventually fails. Her mom sees all the doodles and gets enraged. Basically here, she misunderstands as she is not aware that it is only natural for all teenagers. She rushes to the mart where Devon works and resends all her anger which exposes her own daughter’s very natural feelings and this gives Mei a grave embarrassment. Later they both come home and Mei tries to be calm and cool and feel okay but the truth is she is very embarrassed by herself and she affirms that this will never happen again. However, things that had happened on that day give her a nightmare.
Somethings happen that night and when she woke up, she woke up as a red panda. She loses her mind and starts screaming and panicking. Her parents get worried about her however, they couldn’t figure it out. She tries to hide this from her parents and goes back to her room and tries to keep her cool. And then she changes back to herself with red hair. This makes her know that being calm can change her back to her original form. While on the other hand, because of her strange behavior her parents think that she has come of age a.k.a got her first periods. She covers her head (in order to hide her red hair) and goes to school. She is aware that she needs to be calm to be her original self. Here, I like how they have portrayed the feelings of teenagers and how extreme emotions they get and feel weird but in order to be their normal selves, they need to stay calm.
She meets her friends and they are curious about her cap to which she responds as “it’s her bad hair day”. She tries to avoid any conversations cause she thinks it would unleash her red panda. But she finds out that Tyler, an annoying classmate of hers, embarrasses her with all the doodles she made of Devon. This extremely annoys, embarrasses, and angers her which kind of unleashes the panda but again tries to make herself cool and goes to her class. However, her friends are bothered by her strange behavior.
Mei tries to act normal. Miriam asks if she is okay with exchanging notes. (Well, this literally reminded me of my school days when I used to exchange notes with my friends. I miss those days so much) Mei replies as she is okay and gestures Miriam not to bother her further with this. Miriam informs Mei that her mom is outside which makes Mei go crazy again. The school guard asks her mom to go out of school premises which she refuses. This turns out as an interesting scene for the bored students sitting inside the class and they all gather around the window to get a little bit of drama and this is literally driving Mei crazy. Turns out that her mom came to give her a pad in front of everyone because of which she freaks out and she turns into a complete red panda. Luckily her classmates don’t notice her but her mom does. She gets so damn embarrassed that she runs out of that place which makes her mom worried and her mom follows her.
Finally, her mom finds her at home. Mei breaks down and sobs. Her mom reassures her and discloses to her that this was normal in their family and it’s fine and there’s a solution to it. She explains the history behind this thing which goes back to her ancestor Sun Yee who asked God to turn her into a red panda in order to defend her daughters while men in her town left for war.
God granted her wish and she eventually passed her gift to her descendants. And this gift, over time, became less handy. However, there’s a cure which to perform a ritual to separate the beast on a red moon day. Mei feels impatient to wait that long to become normal again but she had no choice. She feels nervous since it seems to be a challenging process however her mom reassures her.
Meimei struggles over not poofing into panda. Eventually next morning, her friends come over to check on her but she tries to hide from them but they find her and learn the whole truth. Initially, she’s kind of doubtful if her friends will accept her as a red panda, later she learns that they are always supportive and make her feel happy. She realizes that something about them keeps her neural and she feels this could control her from puffing into Red Panda.
Later, her parents test her if she has control over poofing into panda and luckily she passes the test. Her mom doesn’t give her permission to go to the concert despite her efforts which enrages Meimei. Mei’s mother Ming complains about her daughter’s actions and receives an unexpected call from her own mother and panics. Her mother tells her that she is coming to help with the ritual.
Mei complains about her parents to her friends saying how unfair she felt. And they realize that they only need money for the tickets to sneak out to the concert and they think about what could get the money. Later, they find out that Red Panda is not feared but adored by all and they think about an idea to get money and sneak out. Their plan works out perfectly however they don’t get enough money for concert tickets for the four of them. Just then, Tyler, their annoying classmate approaches them and asks them if they could help him with the red panda for his birthday party. First, they refuse but Tyler threatens Mei he’ll disclose their secret to her parents. Then they realize if they get the money from Tyler’s party, then they have enough money to go to the concert and so they agree.
Mei tries hard to sneak into Tyler’s party but her mom makes it hard for her to sneak out. Just when she bursts out that she has to go, she is stopped by her grandma and her crew which makes it literally impossible for her to go. Her grandma warns her that poofing into the panda often would fail the ritual sometimes which makes her concerned. Tyler gets angry waiting for her since she is not on time. Finally, when it’s bedtime, she sneaks out through the window and makes it to Tyler’s party. But she is dressed as a red panda instead of poofing because she feels conscious of her grandma’s warning. Then she realizes that she can’t let her and her friends dream down to go to the concert and poofs into a red panda and everything goes smoothly until her mom unexpectedly shows up at her not-so-good moment.
Mei expects her mom to be angry with her however she blames her friends as a bad influence which Mei doesn’t deny because she doesn’t want her mom’s disapproval. Her friends get disappointed over the fact and Mei feels guilty. Eventually, the day of the ritual comes and Mei feels nervous. Her friends attend the concert. When the ritual is performed, she gets all her happy memories of the panda and feels like she can’t let go. Later she realizes that the panda is a part of her and she doesn’t want to do it. She disobeys her family and runs away to the concert which enrages her mother so much that her seal breaks and she turns into a giant red panda herself.
Mei reunites with her friends at the concert and apologizes to them. Though reluctant at first, her friends forgive her immediately. They spot Tyler at the concert and knowing that he is a 4*Townie, they all become friends. All of them are immersed in ecstasy. Little do they know that Mei mother is angry and will be at the concert soon. It is like a dream come true for all of them.
Then suddenly Mei’s mother makes a surprise yet not so welcoming presence at the concert. She’s looking for Mei. Mei though worried at first, she is pretty clear that no form of her mom could ruin whatever she chooses and she fights back. This further rages her mother.
Her family needs to prepare for the ritual to turn her mother back from being a red panda. They need Mei’s help which Mei is so damn ready to do. The fight gets intense, personal, and emotional which ends in Mei successfully knocking down her mother while confronting her. She obviously didn’t want to hurt her mom but regrets it and tries to get her back in the circle in which the ritual needs to be performed. The surroundings become a total disaster. Mei’s grandma, after seeing her daughter fall, realizes she’s been hard on her daughter which led to this. She breaks her barrier and becomes a red panda herself and leads the other ladies as well for her daughter’s sake. They manage to pull her mom into the circle however their chanting wasn’t audible. Her friends and the 4*TOWN themselves came for that aid which pleases Mei so much. Finally, the ritual becomes successful.
She enters a dimension where she can see her mom’s vulnerable feelings and understands them. Her mom apologizes. Mei makes her feel better and they go to the exit loop of the panda spirit where others are gathered as well. There’s a sweet moment between her mom and her grandma and they all go out except for Mei. Her mom asks her one final time to come with her but Mei clearly tells her this is who she wants to be. The mother accepts her daughter’s decision and tells her that she’ll love Mei no matter what and leaves. And ever since then, the mother-daughter relationship improved a lot and they are happily ever after.
This movie is not only fun to watch but it’s innocently meaningful. First of all, this depicts the most realistic middle school girl. The peer pressure and balance between being a parent’s pet and making own choices. It made me feel very nostalgic. Second of all, it highlights the coming of age feelings and how we feel weird but it’s natural and normal. And finally, it depicts the relationship between parent and child, more specifically a mother and daughter. I watched this movie two times now and yes it was fun for me to watch and it kind of reminded my 13-year-old self whom I desperately miss.
Well, if you are looking for a time machine to go back to your childhood or preteen days, then this movie right here is the next closest thing. If you liked this article, don’t forget to clap cause it would mean a lot and encourage me to do more of these. Bye-bye then! Have a good day!
