Pixar‘s Turning Red is out here breaking more than the spirits of prudish parents with some big viewership numbers! The coming-of-age animated feature broke Disney+’s global viewership opening record within three days of its premiere. Bounding out of the mind of Bao writer/director Domnee Shi, Turning Red tells the story of Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl living in Toronto who falls under a family curse that transforms her into a giant red panda whenever she becomes upset. Plenty of metaphorical mischief ensues, and soon Meilin is compelled to claim her independence from her overprotective family.
Turning Red stars Rosalie Chiang as the voice of Meilin, with Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen, and James Hong also along for the hormonal hijinks. Since the film’s Disney+ debut, critics and audience members have celebrated Turning Red‘s bold approach to storytelling. The film features mature themes that are rarely addressed in the animated medium (if at all) and embraces them in refreshing and honest ways. It respects the teenage life experience and transmutes it into a fun and relatable romp about bodily autonomy and the evolution of personhood.
Pixar recently celebrated Turning Red‘s latest milestone via Twitter:
Despite being overjoyed by Turning Red‘s performance on Disney+, it does make you wonder how it would have performed in theaters. Would it have reached a larger audience? Would parents who are concerned about the film’s contents stage protests outside theaters? We’ll never know for sure, but what is for certain is that Pixar has another bonafide hit on their hands, and Pixar is still making moves to raise the bar for other animation studios.
Have you watched Turning Red on Disney+ to rank among those viewership numbers? What did you think of the movie? Let us know in the comments section below.