Disney and Pixar's latest animated classic Turning Red is officially here.
Helmed by Oscar-winning Bao creator and animator Domee Shi, the colorful new film takes place in the early 2000s and tells the story of Mei (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a confident, quirky, 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl living in Toronto who is "torn between staying her mother's dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence."
"Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter--an unfortunate reality for the teenager," reads the film's official description. "And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren't enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she 'poofs' into a giant red panda!"
Out got the chance to speak to Shi, as well as producer Lindsey Collins, about crafting the inclusive film that features characters from all sorts of diverse backgrounds, the magical-girl inspirations featured in the movie, their love of coming-of-age stories, and more!
"I love coming-of-age stories," Shi tells Out about her love for these kinds of stories. "I think it's 'cause when it was happening to us at the time, it's so traumatizing and embarrassing. But now that we have some distance, there's this want and this urge to go back and revisit the most tumultuous time in our lives and unpack it and understand it better. And there's so much cringiness, but there's also a lot of humor in there that it's just waiting to be kind of dug up and put on the big screen."
Turning Red is now streaming on Disney+.
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