Nate and Kotaro are Turning Red This Episode! - Renegade Animation #54
Tonight, on the latest Renegade Animation, Captain Mike, The Animation Guru, and Kevin The Critic discuss Pixar's latest, VERY RELATABLE, flick Turning Red on Disney+, along with Paramount+'s adaption of the hit comic strip Big Nate, and Netflix's new anime Kotaro Lives Alone!
‘Sup, y’all? It’s THE STREAMIN’ DEMON here to introduce you to yet another episode of Renegade Animation! The big marquee title is Pixar’s latest offering, Turning Red. Now, a brand new Pixar movie is always a special occasion, but this one especially is as it comes from Domee Shi (director of the Oscar-winning short Bao), is the hopping lamp’s first film with an Asian lead, and is one that deals with growing pains, cultural heritage, self-discovery, and mother-daughter dynamics.
Recently Pixar has been experimenting with movies that take a more slice-of-life, less plot-driven approach than their usual work, and Turning Red fits very comfortably along side Soul and Luca. The result is an uproariously funny, endlessly charming, and refreshingly honest look into puberty and Asian culture that builds up to a climax I wasn’t expecting and won’t soon be forgetting. Plus, being a noughties kid myself, I couldn’t help but smile at all the references to 00s pop culture like boy bands, cell phones, and Tamagotchi’s. Superb voice-acting, wonderfully zany, cartoon animation, and a heartfelt story all make this easily one of my personal favorite’s in Pixar’s portfolio. I really hope they continue this slice-of-life format after Lightyear, though that looks promising too.
But that’s enough from me. Time to turn things over to Captain Mike!
TURNING RED
“Turning Red is the 25th feature film from Pixar Animation Studios, written and directed by Domee Shi, from a screenplay she co-wrote with Julie Cho. The film follows Mei Lee, a 13-year-old girl who is torn between being her mother's obedient daughter and the chaos of her youth. As if that were not enough, when she gets too excited, she turns into a big red panda. Let's nip this in the bud first, quality does NOT have a target demographic. Just because you're not a teenage girl, doesn't mean there isn't at least something to relate to in this movie. To say otherwise is not only wrong, but intellectually dishonest. We'll dive deeper into its themes later, but for now, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge these important milestones. This is Pixar's first feature film directed solely by a woman, their first set in Canada, and the second film since Up to feature an Asian lead character. But as significant as those may be, what makes Turning Red so special is that out of all of Pixar's films, this might be the first since The Incredibles to have the most singular artistic vision. Speaking of Incredibles, that was the first time I noticed CGI animation embracing a more "cartoony" art style, and we've come a long way since 2004. The animation on display here is incredible, marinated in a mess of influences from Studio Ghibli to Kaiju movies, to that inescapable wave of Boy Bands from the early 2000's (the film is set in 2002, after all). About the music, I only recently learned that Billie Eilish and Finneas wrote original songs for the fictional boy band 4*Town. They did not need to go as hard as they did, and yet I could honestly stack songs like "Nobody Like U" and "1 True Love" right up there with "Stand Out" and "I2I" from A Goofy Movie. Now about the film's themes, this is why I take literally nobody seriously when they say they "cAn'T rElAtE" to Mei's conflict. First off, EVERYBODY was a teenager, that's just an unavoidable part of life. While there may be some specific cultural details that were different from my upbringing, I still fully understood feeling the pressure of living up to my parents' expectations. Second, even if you're not the "target demographic, that doesn't make this movie a failure. Movies are basically empathy machines, an opportunity to step into the shoes of someone else's life, be they a different gender, race, or something not of this world. This movies does a great job accomplishing exactly that, while also being hilarious, a little dark at times, and genuinely emotional (this is a Pixar film, it's kinda their bread and butter). I haven't even gotten to the voice cast, which is incredible. Rosalie Chiang was honestly perfect as Mei, channeling all of the excitement and anxiety of being a teenager going through "changes." The supporting cast is great as well, including Sandra Oh as Mei's overbearing mother Ming, Ava Morse, Hyein Park and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Miriam, Abby and Priya, Mei's tight knit group of friends, and Wai Ching Ho as Wu Lee, Mei's grandmother. Without spoiling what happens in the third act, let's just say it gave me Colossal vibes and leave it at that. If I did have one negative, and it's one that feels awfully prescient given current events, it's that I could easily tell where the film could fit in some potentially great LGBTQ+ representation, had the Mouse not interfered. That could be conjecture, but I know what I saw. Overall, Turning Red might just be my favorite film of the year so far, and it'll be one tough act to follow.” -Captain Kaye
BIG NATE
“I don't think enough people are talking about how great Big Nate is! Streaming on Paramount+, this show is essentially the love child of 2015's The Peanuts Movie and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Filled to the brim with a barrage of insanely creative visual gags, a colorful cast of characters, and a fresh spin on various children's show clichés, this might be my biggest pleasant surprise of the year, and definitely a winner for Nickelodeon Animation Studios!”- Captain Kaye
KOTARO LIVES ALONE
“Kotaro Lives Alone is a strange, yet wonderful new anime streaming on Netflix, about a 4 year old boy named Kotaro Soto who moves into an apartment complex without his parents. It may take an episode or two to get on the show's wavelength, but once you do, it's an oddly refreshing and sometimes brutally honest slice of life story that tackles plenty of mature subjects. Without giving too much away, the more you learn about Kotaro's background, the more invested you may become. This was certainly one of the biggest surprises of the year, and I hope we get to see more in the future.”- Captain Kaye
