Growing up, boys seem to have a lot of areas or characters to relate their male aggression or disruptive behavior to, in most cases, it could be the werewolves, or more suitable for this case, the hulk.
Thirteen-year-old Meilin lee(Rosalie Chiang) is a middle school student, who leads a seemingly normal teenage life like every other teenager, the only problem which she's oblivious to, is the fact that she has been completely brainwashed by the ideologies of her parents(her mother in particular). Until one night, a humiliating and unpleasant event forces her to unlock a magical spell that has been passed down through every woman in her family for generations which proved to be more than a little inconvenient.
This animated Pixar movie, released on Disney plus, had director Dormee shi and playwright, Julia cho, who both did a very good job in delivering their idea of what one would, at first sight, think to be a story about puberty in females. Even though very un-similar to the hulk, the movie does classically tell the story of Mei, whose goal is to attend the 4*town concert with her friends but wakes up a red panda. She learns to control her emotions which allows her to transform into a giant red panda in a puff of pink smoke when upset and return to her normal self when calm.
And just like how easy she came around to control the transformation she is provided with a remedy to trap the panda and rid herself of this curse(spell) for good. But her mother becomes the villain in her story.
The story is inspired by the Chinese culture which is very evident throughout the movie, while still making a statement on the negative side of parenting and how parents force their ideologies on their children resulting in them locking away that part of them that should always be set free and this is evident in Mei who would rather spend time cleaning her family's temple than karaoke-ing with her friends. And although the red panda's appearance created a short wave of inconvenience in Mei's life she soon begins to accept it as a part of her and a wave of change followed swiftly.
Although this movie pokes its funny stick at puberty in females, it has nothing to do with it, nor is it as complicated as any other Disney movie princess's story, rather, it centered its story on the coming of age of a young girl and her friends (whose hormones are at their highest), the Chinese culture and mythology, parenting, rebellion and 4*town concert( a boy band group Mei and her friends desperately want to see perform live).
It's truly a classic that explores its origins in real life and an entire plot in an uncomplicated manner allowing parents and children alike to understand what it's like to grow in such an intense situation.
It's an educative movie that proves to be more educative to parents than children. And is suitable to watch as a family movie.