Is Turning Red Appropriate and Emotional Lessons from Turning Red written by the Elf on March 15th, 2022. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before You Watch Turning Red
Movie: Turning Red
Rating: PG
Age Suggestion: 8+ (Target audience is 10-15)
Running Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Release Date: March 11th, 2022
Where to Stream: Disney Plus
Warnings: Like many other Pixar movies, this is not aimed at a younger audience. This is a coming of age movie- and it talks about it! There’s a little more language than usual and a major plot point revolves around periods. It might be a little boring for younger viewers. There are also some panda scenes with jump scares.
Quick Turning Red Summary
Meilin is like other 13 yr. olds. She thinks she’s ready to be independent, like an adult, and she’s experiencing a ton of emotional and physical changes. But unlike other 13 year olds, she turns into a giant red panda whenever she can’t control her emotions. As if middle school wasn’t hard enough.
Keep reading for our full Turning Red parent review/ Emotional Lessons from Turning Red/ Is Turning Red Appropriate for Kids?
Turning Red Discussion Questions
1) Who is a musician that you like?
2) If your messy emotions could turn into an animal, which one would it be?
3) What concert would you be most excited to go to with your friends?
4) For parents- talk about how your kids can tell you anything and how you would respond to things like crushes. And then ask who they think the safe adults are in their life (If they didn’t feel like they could come to you with something, who could they talk to?)
5) For older kids, have you talked about a prepuberty and what to expect?
Keep reading for our full Turning Red parent review.
Turning Red Parent Review
Is Turning Red Appropriate?
First of all, like many other Pixar movies- the target audience of this movie is slightly older kids. (If you have a main character who is 13, the target age group is generally 10-15.) And like many other Pixar movies, parts of it would really bore younger kids. But for kids and parents of kids in that age range- this can be a really important movie to watch together and discuss. I’m going to address the 4 main things I’ve seen floating around social media and mommy boards…
1) It’s not a kids movie.
It IS a kids movie. The target audience just is not 5 yr. olds. And NO, this is not a new thing for Disney. Like The hunchback of Notre Dame, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Black Cauldron, Lilo and Stitch, and if we stray from just Disney- COUNTLESS other animated movies. Just because it is animated does NOT mean it is meant for little kids. Turning Red is a good kids movie, younger kids might not enjoy it as much as older ones will.
2) It talks about periods and uses the word “sexy”.
Here’s the thing that bothers me about this statement… if your child watches Youtube (yes even Youtube Kids) or watches TikTok. They’ve seen sexier commercials. And they’ve seen commercials for minstrual products with more direct information about girls periods. And if you are not ready to talk your kids through that yet- cool. Neither am I. If you do want to watch the movie and questions pop up. TALK them through their questions in the most BORING and lame way possible and it’ll be over quickly for the both of you.
3) She disrespects her parents and the movie encourages that.
The movie accurately portrays what it is like to be a developing teenager who feels completely independent one second and totally dependent the next. Who yes, does a little rebelling. And if all of that is not relatable… you probably have not been, or really hung out with, a teenager in a while. Because 13 is hard. I liked that there were consequences for the rebellion and that parents and daughter were able to work through it together.
4) The panda part is scarier than it is cute.
True, the panda is a physical manifestation of anxiety, pain, fear, embarrassment, and all the messy feelings we would love to be able to wish away. Was it really portrayed that way in the previews- not well, I’ll give you that one. The reason I am not letting my kids watch this is because they are under 4 and there are scenes that would really scare them.
5) And last, but certainly not least- the undertone to the complaints that people are not willing to say out loud… It’s too Asian.
But Mulan doesn’t bother me. Well, good for you! It’s got nostalgia going for it. But it had more than it’s fair share of negative reviews too. Encanto didn’t bother me. Cool, that doesn’t mean you don’t have racially motivated issues with this movie. Meilin helps her parents run tours of the temple they take care of. There are rituals and chanting. (& lots of Canada references.) And plenty of other things that are more Eastern than they are Western. And that will bother western parents who aren’t able to evaluate their own racial biases.
And to that I’ll direct you to this Washington Post article on a TV anchor who was told that sharing her New Years dumpling tradition was being ‘very Asian’ and not relatable. And then to the foundation she founded Very Asian. And tell you that you need to do some self examination… because that is racist and not OK. And remind you that varying cultural experiences are vital to development.
Things We Liked About the Movie:
We watched this with a 13 year old who felt like it was really relatable. Specifically the anxiety around what to and not to tell your parents and feeling on top of the world one day and like it’s crumblong the next. Having a visual representation of anxiety was also really great to see represented. I’ve definitely felt like a crazy monster popped out of me sometimes when I’m anxious, or like I’m trying to repress one. We also really enjoyed all of the friend characters, they each felt realistic and relatable.
My absolute favorite thing about the movie?! It showed a relatable family navigating through adolescence together- successfully!! Did they all make mistakes? Absolutely. Big ones. But at the end of the day they all loved each other and still communicated with each other. Even after fumbling they figured out how to work together. How to continue being an in sync family (boy band pun intended there- lol).
So Should You Watch It?!
Is Turning Red Appropriate for Your Fam?!
Why watch Turning Red? Because it is a relatable coming of age movie about emotions we have a hard time dealing with. Turning Red highlights positive female friendships. Because the movie highlights parents and kids making mistakes but working together and fighting FOR their positive family relationships. An Asian movie with an Asian cast led by a mostly female and Asian team- yay! Because the movie talks about learning to embrace our messy emotions- and that’s a really difficult lesson.
Should you watch it with your kids and think twice about letting them watch it if they are younger? We think so! But we also absolutely think it is a great movie worth watching. And it’s worth doing some self evaluation afterwards as well.
7 Emotional Lessons from Turning Red
1) Acknowledge we do not know everything and need help.
Meilin needed help controlling her panda. And her mom needed help from the family. And the friends needed each other’s support. We all need help, many of us more than we like to acknowledge.
2) We all need a happy calm place in our mind, for our emotional state.
After Meilin first becomes a giant red panda, she quickly determines that controlling her emotions and finding a calm place is the only way to become human again. Everyone needs a place to find calm in order to maintain and improve their emotional state.
3) Emotionally invest in your community We need friends who support us emotionally.
I LOVED that they showed a positive and encouraging female teenage friend group! Goodness we all NEED a supportive community. But we have to invest emotionally for that to happen.
4) TALK to your kids about things BEFORE they happen
Through Meilin having her Red Panda issues, the viewer can see how much more helpful it would have been to not keep it a secret. This is a metaphor for having a period at first and the importance of having a plan and discussing puberty- among many other things- with your children before it becomes an issue.
5) It’s not OK to blame others when we cannot acknowledge our own failures
After getting in trouble, Meilin blames her friends rather than taking responsibility for her own actions. Her mom blames her own mother and Meilin instead of accepting responsibility for her mistakes. And it comes back in painful ways.
6) We all have messy emotions that we have to make room for
We spend a lot of time with Meilin’s emotions and how messy the become. But at the end of the film, we see the generation’s of suppressed emotions and how much healthier it would have been to deal with and handle them before they exploded. And I love when her dad talks to her and explains that we ALL have messy emotions and we can’t get rid of them. We have to make room for them.
7) What we feel about ourselves is not always true.
We all feel inadequate at times. Impostor syndrome is a real struggle. And by making room for our messy emotions and acknowledging them we can better balance our feelings.
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