Man, yeah it really did make all the difference that they had Mei and the mother get along and enjoy each other’s company at the start so it’s not the generic “ugh I hate my mom” trope with these coming of age stories

To be honest, when I watched the film I thought the lesson was: “It’s good to honor your family, but you also need to honor yourself too.”

Whenever people complain about how this movie was "inappropiate" for talking honestly about period, I remember that one scene in Carrie where she thinks she is actually dying when she gets hers because she had no idea what it was. She only saw herself bleeding, which made her freak out, which made her scream for help, which caused a very traumatic bullying scene for her. On top of that, her mother punishes HER for the audacity of having a period because now she was "tainted" and all her pleas of "why didn't you tell me this could happen" were completely ignored. For Carrie's mom, periods were too gross, too disgusting and an actual sin that Carrie should have avoided to being good, therefore not worth talking to her about before she was fucking 16. There is something very wrong about this general attitude I do not like.

Ok, a lot of people are somehow missing the almost explicitly stated metaphor, so the panda transformation is a metaphor for the messy and self expressive parts of oneself. Not just a puberty metaphor.

My favorite part about Turning Red was how they portray the girls' romantic/sexual awakening. SO many movies can't wait to portray teenage boys as girl-obsessed sex pests, it's refreshing to see a portrayal of "boy-crazy" that is NOT seen as inherently negative. The mother's overreaction is clearly portrayed as wrong, rightfully so.

Also I literally hate when people are mad that periods are shown to kids. Or puberty in general. Most all of my friends started puberty from 8-10 years old. That’s 3rd-5th grade. Not only did they already have their periods, they had a full chest and curves by 6th grade because puberty comes when it comes and you can’t control your genetics. I appreciate that they had Priya there as a more subtle allusion to that fact

Am I the only one who wished the father had more of a role? I liked the scene where he stops Mei from deleting the goofy panda video, and plants the seed that maybe she doesn't NEED to get rid of the panda, but other than he might as well not have been in the movie at all.

Some people don’t seem to reliase that cringe is a part of being a kid, I enjoyed this film and thought it was fun.

There was one scene in the film that I found both hilarious and heartwarming. It was where it was revealed Tyler was a 4town fan. Because, you would normally expect Mei and her friends to make fun of him or blackmail him especially after everything he put them through. Surprisingly, they didn’t. Not only are they happy but they even welcome him to the group with no argument. I guess now that they know, they have something in common so why not be friends then. It’s pretty refreshing to see something like that in animation. In fact, for a bully character, Tyler is pretty well written character. But, Im really like how pixar is starting to do these ghibli esque slice of life style movies. It actually worked out great with Luca and now this. I honestly wouldn’t mind if they do these kinds of movies for a while instead of something extravagant. But I’m still excited to check out lightyear this year.

My guess is that the panda is not just a metaphor for female puberty but the pressure for women to hide their ugly sides and emotions in order to look appealing and presentable for society, more specifically women from the Asian community. Also “I was more into the anime music videos and Evanescence and Nightwish”; girl, SAME!

The whole movie having the words “oh crap”, “gyrating” and “drugs” was honestly a breath of fresh air, I adore this movie a lot because of that and cause the movie is cute with its visuals

"three emotionally supportive friends? did you also have a rolls royce?" GODDD I FELT THIS because i have not met a single person who actually had good friends in 8th grade

Yeah my mum didn't tell me about periods until the day I woke up covered in blood and got told in minutes what a period was so I appreciate the movie so much and loved how cringe this was reminding me of my past

The soft spoken dad talking about the recording of her with her friends had me on the verge. So simple, I think you look happy here

Yeah I’m a male and this movie destroyed me emotionally because I related to Mei’s constant need to live up to family expectation even if it came at the cost of my own happiness and the scene where you saw the Mom as a young girl it broke me even more to the point where my girlfriend had to cuddle me. This movie was fantastic and I had a great time with it because I was young and loved Backstreet Boys and dealt with similar themes so Pixar for me related to me despite my gender.

Saw the advertising for the movie and expected it to be extremely surface level, horribly inconsistent and poorly delivered. I am so glad that instead we got a genuinely funny, touching, well written story that managed to balance the elements of the weight of expectations and how to live a balanced life with puberty’s growing pains.

I adore this movie. A constant complaint I hear (that isn’t “wah wah, my kids are asking questions”) is how it’s not as “deep” as Encanto Honestly? I love that it isn’t. I love that it’s an easier digest that I can watch over and over and over. The humor is perfect for me, and I’m glad that it’s comfortable with what it is and what it wants to tell. Not everything needs to be Prince of Egypt levels of grandiose. So yeah, for me, it’s a solid 9/10

I was completely unaware that this movie had any kind of backlash until long after it came out. The worst I'd heard was that some of the characters' faces "didn't look quite Pixar", which was something also thrown at Luca a while back. So I was really surprised to suddenly start hearing about all the complaints this movie got 🤔

I wasn't looking forwards to this movie that much, but my friend managed to rope me into watching it with her and it was really fun! I know some people aren't too happy with Pixar's recent direction, but I think that both Turning Red and Luca did a really good job of telling stories on a more personal level on topics that will be more relatable to their younger audience.

The puberty angle was entirely a marketing thing Anyone who gets mad over the puberty angle is someone who probably didn't watch the movie, or went in expecting to be mad because of the marketing. People like the movie because the characters are thoughtful, many of the jokes land, and there is good work put into developing the character interactions interactions and background. Also the animation is...effective. I won't say I like the look when its standing still,, but the motion and timing is stellar This is really a movie about a family learning to control their emotions in healthy ways It's actually really easy to pick apart the puberty metaphor, it falls apart the minute you ask " wait, why does no other girl deal with this?"

It occurred to me watching Turning Red that Mei never actually "gets in trouble" until the climax. That is, her mother is never mad at her, never punishes her, always assumes the best of her. I thought that was really interesting. Also, I'll say it again, my big problem with The Mitchells vs The Machines is that I just hated the dad so much, although the fact that Katie had to apologize to him was probably my main issue there (whereas in Encanto and Turning Red Mirabel and Mei didn't have to apologize), so it's kind of interesting to see people's reactions to Ming's character as opposed to other characters like Mr. Mitchell or Drac.

I personally liked the opening. To me the opening was very nostalgic, it reminded me of those early 2000’s Disney channel shows I used to watch as a kid.

For the people who think Mei's crush is too problematic for animation I only have two words: Helga Pataki.

Turning Red is an instant classic for me. I actually enjoyed this more than Luca and Soul, I mean I certainly liked those two but something about Turning Red just hits different. I haven’t enjoyed a Pixar movie this much for awhile. It’s no Coco, but I think it’s highly enjoyable.

28 year old man here, watched this one on a Friday night in with my wife. We loved it, loved the gags, the emotional beats, the references, everything. I too await the day we see a Linkin Park AMV watcher be the protagonist in something, but otherwise, great time. Deserved a theatrical release, damn it. My single complaint story/movie-wise was the way it felt like the story let that utterly hateable, piece of shit bully kid off the hook way too easily.

Seeing all these insane and overly negative reviews of the movie are honestly comical at this point: "it teaches children to disobey parents" "Kids aren't this cringy" "It's not appropriate for all ages" Yada yada yada... These reviewers are the kinds of people who see a movie and if it doesn't fit their hyper-specific expectation of what it should be, then they blow a fuse. Anyway as for my thoughts on the movie: I liked it. It's not my favorite Pixar movie but it's definitely fun, entertaining and has plenty of rewatch value.

As a straight Black male. I related to the spending less time with my parents for friends, particularly my mom. The look of sadness on Ming when Mei was supposed to be at Math-letes. Reminded me of a time my mom picked me up from school to rent movies. I had planned to play D&D with friends that afternoon. She smiled and said it was fine. But the look on her face as she drove away haunted me the rest of the evening. I believe Turning Red will make kids aware of how hard this time can be for a parent. They dedicated time and effort to raise, feed and cloth you. They also saw to your happiness and entertainment. Suddenly you don't want to spent time with them. It's natural to pull away. But after over 13 years of bending their schedule to make sure you were sought-after. It's hard to just let go. P.S. I made a point to try to spend time with my mom. Maybe not as much as before but enough to make happy. To cheer her up.

Man I wish I had this movie when I was in middle school. I had a hard time excepting myself during that time of my life. I think if I had a movie like this growing up, it would have really help me emotionally a lot. I don't think it would have change my life, but I think it would have help guide me in a messy point in my life.

“It is NOT a kids movie. It is animated and rated PG” Words of wisdom there Brad😁🤩

I laughed my ass off with this movie, whoever has an issue or feels "offended" must had experienced the same upbringing as Mei's mother and that's why they're lashing out

I wish the parents actually spoke cantonese or mandarin in this movie. As a Canadian asian, me and many of my friends have a hard time communicating with parents clearly because of the language barrier. In this movie the language barrier just doesn't exist and the parents speak english all the time. It would have been cool if Mei spoke in english to her friends, and Chinese to her mom. I know it would be harder for children to understand who can't read, but it would be a lot more realistic. Many people who speak the same first language as their parents don't understand the struggle bilingual families have to go through

the soundtrack for this movie is so fire. they killed it with the “new jack flow”

Can we just talk about her dad being the bestest guy ever? That scene when he talks to Mei and shows her the video clips of her with her friends was just absolutely lovely

I have one problem (not with this movie, with me and movies): I can't watch likeable character getting publicly humiliated. IDK, it just gets to me. I'm fragile like that. So I won't re-watch this movie anytime soon, it's kinda exhausting for me. With that said, this is a great movie, and I'm proud of Pixar for tackling such a hard subject, knowing dang well that they will face controversy for it. Respect dudes.

I work at a store that sells a few Turning Red toys and products, and I’ve seen boys and girls of all ages loving it! (And even getting upset when we sell out….😅) So I definitely believe kids of all ages can enjoy it!

Is there literally anything that doesn’t offend parents?? As a childfree person it sure as hell seems like it. Also the thing about the Rolls Royce got me 🤣

Honestly I loved it. I honestly related so much to Mei and her mother's relationship, but even I felt that it was a little too close to home. That scene where Ming finds Mei's notebook gave me flashbacks, man.

One thing I love about Turning Red is the way it treats boy bands and the fandom culture around certain bands. There are a lot of satirical and not so joking takes on toxic fandom culture and how crazy fan girls are in media. Which, yes, these things absolutely exist and should be addressed. However I feel like most media that talks it neglects to mention the good sides of fandom culture. How it can open you to a whole new community of like-minded people, bring you to some of the best friends you’d ever have, and strengthen your existing friendships. How the guys and their music bring joy to their fans. It hypes you up when you’re at your highest peek and comfort you when you’re at your lowest. So many people just lump boy band fans together and mock them as crazy fan girls without stopping to think why they chose to be in this fandom, and why they’re so supportive/defensive for these men. Beyond showing a different side of fangirl culture, it’s also very good for the movie’s plot. We needed to understand and respect her love of 4Town to care about the plot. And it would have been to easy to go the other way. The writers could’ve just had 4Town be the inciting incident and focused it’s time on the actual characters. But they made a point of tying the band, specifically their music and fan-girls, to Mei’s emotional arc. Whether she’s emotional distressed from her panda, planning a business venture with her friends, or finally standing up to her mom, 4Town is by her side, motivating her and helping her. Plus, their song is just awesome. PS: While I get your point about how PG-13 has basically no meaning nowadays, I still think it’s unfair for these parents to have reacted the way they did. These writers shouldn’t have to receive backlash because other people are careless with the ratings. It’s like that one parent who took the kids to see Deadpool because “iTs A sUpErHeRo MoViE” and got mad when it lived up to its rating. Just because you wrongly assumed this would be a completely G movie does not mean others need to pay for your mistake. Like, it’s a box of pads. Your kid’s probably already seen one in your bathroom. This is literally the tamest way they could possibly breach this discussion. I don’t think they even mentioned it by name.

Yes, i was hoping you would cover this film sooner or later CellSpex! i loved Turned Red. especially because it was one of the few Pixar films to cover the topic of mature things like puberty!

I personally loved the movie. I was 12 in 2002 and the jokes about the boyband made me laugh since I related to the movie in that way. IMO, the reaction to the period discussion is a massive overreaction.

The one moment in this Pixar movie where I was crying my eyes out is when they show Mei Lee's mom as a teenager crying out, "I'm sick of being perfect." That got to me because I can relate. Even as a kid, I was a perfectionist; thinking that in order to please myself, I have to please everyone else. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how to ease up on myself and be grateful for what I have accomplished in life instead of just focusing on what I don't have.

as a 30-year-old straight man, this movie definitely was not made for me, but i LOVED it. I cried just seeing how supportive all the friends were

Women when men make nostalgic things for themselves: ok Men when women make nostalgic things for themselves: _PATHETIC._

Thank you for reminding that not all movies need to be relatable. There's really an overemphasis of relatability in the current age, and I feel this is so detrimental, because it robs people from the opportunity of seeing new perspectives. Relatability does have its place, but there should place for other factors as well.

I cannot believe how much I remember from this movie and saw Mei and her friends. Encanto made me cry. Turning Red got me nostalgic in the best way possible.

As an eleven year old, this movie is my second favourite movie

I’m just gonna say it’s so funny that everything has to be “relatable” nowadays 😂 c’mon we all grew up enjoying media with characters that didn’t look like us and living situations that were not even close to our realities and we still loved them

Am I the only one who is just glad that the urban-fantasy/modern-magical adventure story DIDN'T take place in New York City? Seriously, it's about damn time. The fact that it's my nearest city of Toronto is just the icing on top.

as a certified Cis Straight White Male™, I liked this movie. it has amazing animation and incredible comedy especially, the story is not amazing, but still good, and characters act in realistic and understandable ways, even if they were sometimes in the wrong or awkward. I didn't find it very relatable, but that doesn't mean I can't like it. also the period stuff didn't feel awkward or shocking to me in the slightest, and I really don't get how this had so much backlash well, I get how, but it shouldn't have

I've seen various clips of this movie. It's one of those films I respect more than I like. The characters are fine (Abby, Pryia, and Jin are easily the best characters), the animation is decent, and it's cool how it understands teenagers, captures my birth year pretty well, and captures puberty as best as it can. But at the same time, it's just..not my thing. And that's ok.

Honestly I didn't love turning red but the scene of ming trying to hide her drawings was the most relatable scene from any film I've ever seen

Even if not every girl can relate to Mei there's a lot to relate to, for me personally it was her drawings

I liked Turning Red. It's not Pixar's best movie, but it was a fun and relatable. It's also a very relatable movie for me as a Canadian born in the early 2000s and been a teenaged girl before. So that's a little bonus nostalgic vibe! lol The Toronto culture was accurate too. 🍁🍁🍁

i had to pause at 11:43 THE DISNEY PRINCESSES ARE TEENAGERS???? my entire life, i thought they were all like 20+

I also wasn't into boy bands. But the way the "fandom" was presented was both relatable and respectful. I remember how passionate I was at that age and it was pretty similar. The way it also isn't really a punchline was really nice. Yeah a lot of things I really loved at that age were super dumb and did not stand the test of time. But at that age the thing you love are so important. I could tell you the name of every person in every band I loved at that age. Every band they'd been in and every song on every album. Hunting down slightly different versions of songs was definitely a thing. In this sure her mother doesn't get it but the boy band and the fans' passion comes together to save the day. I can appreciate that even without ever being a fan of a boyband.

I like some of the references that you wouldn’t know unless you were into anime. Like when Mei was jumping towards the concert one frame definitely was a reference to the movie “the girl that weeps through time“. Also the aunties transformation definitely felt familiar then realized it was from the Ultraman series

As a mom of a wee bean (under 10) I can say that it was harder to explain to wee bean about why Mei was so embarrassed when Ming showed her pictures than what pads are for. It didn’t even register. Which btw never happened to me but omg it is the worst/best 2nd hand embarrassment ever in a movie. It is like entertainment’s equivalent of 😱.

Was glad to see a little trouncing of what “Brave” did. In terms of mother/daughter transformation-related films, “Turning Red” delivered in ways “Brave” didn’t even come close to. I will admit, the scene where she’s throwing herself around the room, I got where they were going with that, but also that frustration Mei expresses through so much of the film, I felt it was well conveyed. Plus, the idea that it’s her family that says this is bad, but almost everyone she knows just thinks the panda is cool (like when the girls are watching the boys play basketball, it looked like a few were trying to impress her). I felt it has been a long, long time since a Pixar film entertained me like this (maybe not since…WALL-E, or Toy Story 3!), and some of the apprehensions I had about Domee Shi (I felt her short Bao was good but not quite great), were blown away. Plus, I probably have seen the film several dozen tomes by now, and want the Blu-Ray to hear what they say on the audio commentary. To me, this feels like one of the first steps into the Next Generation at Pixar, making me hope they’ll bring about more emotionally-personal stuff from people who grew up on Pixar, and can do things with the tools and storytelling that the last generation maybe never considered.

"my playlist was composed of anime music videos set to Evanescence and Nightwish!" I'm dying! 😂😂 Thank you for this gem!

Honestly, I loved this movie, especially the way it tackled periods! It wasn't even that big of a thing and most of it was nice stuff, like Mei's friends offering her pads when they come to her bedroom window, and the mom being fully supportive and saying that it's a normal thing! Also I personally found the jokes they made about it to be funny as well, because they weren't put in the movie to make fun of women, but to give them something to laugh at and relate to. I felt really noticed when Mei was starting to rebel, and I know she wasn't directly rebelling to the fact that she always has to get good grades and be perfect, but I always feel worthless when I get anything less than a 100 on a test or assignment. I was born in 2007 so most of the early 2000s nostalgia didn't really hit home for me, but I still found joy in seeing the way everything was. I've never obsessed with a boy band, but I have obsessed with other things that I'd beg my parents to take me to, (hence my pfp, my current thing I want to do is to go see Beetlejuice the Musical in the spring this year!) Overall great movie and great message and film! Definitely an S tier in my ranking!

Something I absolutely love is that the movie didn't go for the constantly used "I hate my parents" cliche in most of these movies, and expressed that Mei does love and get along with her parents, especially her mom, but that doesn't mean that there aren't problems, and it doesn't mean that said problems should just be shoved aside out of the fear of ruining a good relationship. It's so refreshing.

Common sense media is the perfect place for unintentional comedy.

About relatability - I hate that that is been one of this movie’s biggest criticisms! Most of the movies we grew up with featured main characters nothing like ourselves - superheroes, princesses, talking animals, aliens - yet we found ways to connect with them based on their stories and struggles and personalities. Especially if your demographic wasn’t represented much in media, you learned very quickly how to relate to people who were not created with you in mind. That’s the nature of storytelling - finding meaning and common ground in someone else’s shoes, or at the very least having fun with it and learning about a new perspective. You don’t have to be a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian teenage girl growing up in 2002 Toronto to relate to this and find value in this story. Of course you don’t HAVE to enjoy this movie, but don’t dismiss it because it’s “not relatable”!

I liked it and found it entertaining. I did however have to pause it and take a breather from the cringe at some points. Particulary the toilet scene. Not because of the period stuff, as a grownup I don't see how you could have any issue with that. Instead it was the parent being overbearing, assuming things about their child without listening. It was just a bit too relatable. When I eventually rewatch it that shouldn't be a problem though, knowing how the story pans out. (I was locked in a cringe-breather cycle at one point as I started watching an anime episode that was even cringier. Swapping back and forth every few minutes.)

12:49 I didn’t realize I wasn’t the only one who rolls around on the floor in physical and mental pain at the terrible thing that is happening to my body. It’s so terrible, I’m just- so annoyed that this exists at all.

I've never understood "relatability" as the be-all, end-all of judging if something is good. The 'relatable' parts of this movie are the parts I like the least, because they remind me of how cringe I was at this age. Meanwhile there's wizards and gods and superheroes and monsters in media that I have nothing in common with whom I still love and empathize with.

I enjoyed Turning Red. It was a fun early 2000's nostalgia trip with some really fun characters, jokes and themes. Even when you have parents who have always been supportive of you and your interests, it can still be hard to disagree with them sometimes.

This is probably my favorite Pixar film. It has a constant evolving self-ironic tone that makes it easy to digest any scene beyond the surface level information being presented. The level of quality in editing and animation and what they felt compelled to go out of their way to animate even when it wasn't vital to the plot or tone or scenes is just staggering. The plot is very abstract because of how much the conflicts are presented as comically heightened reality in tone, so I don't understand when people say the plot is simple or formulaic. Same with Luca, I think Luca is more boring moment to moment, but that story is not a simple formulaic plot. It is insanely self aware that the quest to get. AVespa is silly and childish and not really important, the tone is never presenting the surface level plot as serious, so the actual story being told is much more abstract, it's about an analysis of childhood and understanding why the kids perceive their reality in this way. Same with Turning Red, is takes its plot a bit more seriously than Luca but at the end of the day, most of the run time lacks a clear conflict or is otherwise about kids wanting to see a boy band concert. It presents its conflict as whimsical and not that serious, the real story is not so surface level.

There is barely anything about periods in this movie lol "Oh no! This movie showed boxes of pads like twice for 2 seconds each time, what a disaster!"

I thought it was great. And I loved the fact Pixar actually decided to make a movie that takes place in an English speaking majority country other than America or the second choice the UK. I feel like maybe we should retire the term kid's movie. Doesn't actually seem useful

Burning Bed: Bixar's Buberty Bovie

I'm a 68-year-old man, and I liked it. I also have a daughter who was in middle school in 2002. I think the real intended audience for this movie is Millennials who were young teens in 2002 and are parents to young teens today. It directly reminds them of the awkward conflicts of their own lives at that time, and warns them to start having the conversations with their children that they wished their parents had had with them. Jin: "What has your mother told your about her panda?" Mei: "Nothing." And that is the whole point of the movie.

From my perspective, the movie was okay. I'd watch it with a kid without feeling trapped, but I wouldn't seek it out often. My biggest complaint was that some of the jokes didn't land, and the panda metaphor was a bit too muddled for my liking. But that's fine! It's respectable as a film and I think it's a good direction for the normalization of periods and young women in media.

This is one of my favorite animated movies I've seen in such a long time. Even just the anime-inspired visual style blew my mind...but then on top of that there was a hilarious and emotional, grounded story about growing up?! So wonderful!! So unfair that this movie got flooded with hate and controversary. I never expected Pixar to make something so different, but I hope this creative team gets much more work like this in the future. 🥰

CellSpex I really appreciate you putting your sponsorship ads at the front of your video. It's so much better than being pulled out of a video halfway through for an ad break, and makes your videos more engaging because of it!

My three-year old daughter enjoyed it, it's visually appealing. For me it was fun. Really want to show it again to her whem she's older

When me and my cousin (us two being asians, lgbt and female respectively) watched this we ended up crying. It was just that relatable to us as young people.

It's nice that no one's talking about "my panda my choice" part at the end.

"Yes, teenagers really are this self confident" HAH! I only have one thing to say to that, as a teenager- uhm, i mean if its okay with y- no ok I'll just uh go...

8:16 the expressions in that scene were brilliant

please review kipo and the age of wonderbeasts. it’s criminally underrated and marks a new era of animated series out of japan.

So is the more threatening parent, angry Abuela from Encanto or Mei's mom who turns into a Furry Kaiju Karen?

12:50 - I had the exact same thought when I first saw this scene, lol. I have definitely been writhing and lamenting "WHY? WHY?" on bad cramp days

The ost is such a banger. And all the backlash was shallow excuses.

Definitely didn’t expect to see a hello fresh sponsor from this channel, but I definitely welcome it .

I have the best personal flex in saying that I always thought this movie was gonna be great and that the art style was adorable, man I was so happy to be proved right. I remember when the first official trailer came out and I just kept rewatching it for reasons I couldn't place until it's release got closer, main one being cause as a poc teenage girl (17 and African-American to be specific) I didn't realize how much I wanted a movie like this until I teared up like 3 times during my first watch because of how happy I was. Also I'm so glad all the "oh teenage girls don't act like this" takes were quickly debunked online cause I acted in ways like this in middle school and still do now (I was literally just reading Stobotnik fanfic and looking at InoTan fanart like a few hours ago so yeah, teenage girls are weird get over it). Also I appreciate how it didn't make fun of what the girls' interests were cause as a fan of K-pop that happens a lot, and it's nice to not have something like an interest in boy/girl groups seen as trivial (and yes the crying at concerts thing is real, just did it two months ago at a Twice concert lol). I just... love everything that this movie represents and the fact that I could tell it was written and directed by women to make something that young girls have never had before, and I hope more stuff like this will be made given this movie's success

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS YES!!!!!

It is SO important for young girls to be informed and prepared for their period when it comes. Heck, it seriously isn't even that hard. Just tell them what's gonna happen, explain _why_ as best as you can, and tell them how pads work. That's it. I feel very lucky because I went to an elementary school where they took this shit seriously. In the 5th grade, I remember they separated girls and boys into private talking groups in the library to give presentations about what puberty would be like. For me and the other girls, they discussed periods and pads in a gentle and clear way, no fancy metaphors or cover-ups, and I will forever appreciate that. They even accepted any questions we had, which we had the option to write anonymously. When mine emerged a year or two later (when my mom wasn't home, poor dad XD), I knew exactly what to do. Parents need to do the EXACT same for their kids, or they could be in for trauma that is EASILY avoidable.

Woody's laugh in the "Why don't I get someone else to watch the sheepp tonight" scene is just phenominal.

man bubble parenting with the kids being seen as programable robots is the worst

The "this movie teaches kids to disobey" criticism is super weird because I'm pretty sure almost EVERY movie about a kid involves them disobeying the rules in one way or another

All of the stuff with the red panda element was well done. Not just for the subject matter, but also for all the creativity in the visuals, like the expressions, movements, and details in the fur. Plus, the scenes that take place in the 'spirit realm' (sorry if that's the incorrect term for it) were powerful moments, such as Mei deciding to maintain her panda form and encountering the younger version of her mom. That, and of course her pep talk with her dad. It's certainly another hit for Pixar in my book.

I remember watching the teaser where Ming comes to the school and then being so much more shocked when the film showed me that they cut out the part where she talks about her pads. I know I would've been mortified had that happened to me at Mei's age lmao

I think the "backlash" that baffled me the most was someone who said, they didn't like it, and admitted they were out of the target demographic. The internet raked him over the coals for that rather milquetoast opinion. On the other side of that, I also see a lot of downright nasty comments that seem incredibly out of line. I haven't seen the film yet myself(I haven't seen any films since *Soul* came out, which I *did* enjoy), so I can't say where my opinion will fall with any degree of accuracy

maybe i’m just emotional, but this movie HIT me, and I know all pixar movies make people cry, however THIS movie really sucker punched me in the gut. The end scene where young Ming confesses how she feels, and when Mei is finally excepting who she is without being ashamed…as a high schooler who grew up as a girl, it just made me feel so seen. I know a lot of people hated this movie, or thought it was predictable or average, but to all the full grown men who watched this movie and disliked it, respectfully, it just wasn’t for you. I for one am so glad there’s a movie about being an awkward teenage girl that isn’t the typically disney channel “I’m not like other girls”laugh track type deals. This movie was real and emotional and heartfelt and beautiful. I loved it.

Wasnt Mavis in Hotel Transylvania 118? Not 116?

I thought it was incredibly basic and shallow but an important story for general culture that isn't so fucking eurocentric.

I sm happy that so many people can enjoy and relate to this movie, but I'm in the "it's just not for me" group. Teenage/middle school awkwardness is really hard to sit through for me, especially if it is a big character point.

I really think more should be made of that amazing heart-to-heart scene between Mei Lin and her dad. That was unexpected and quite frankly wonderful.

I'm a 28 year old man and even I still related so much to Mei's story