In Disney and Pixar’s TURNING RED, we are introduced to Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager. 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. Needless to say, it is a recipe for chaos and shenanigans.

Recently, Nightmarish Conjurings took part in the global press conference for the release of TURNING RED, which featured Sandra Oh (voice of “Ming”), Rosalie Chiang (voice of “Mei Lee”), Ava Morse (voice of “Miriam”), Hyein Park (voice of “Abby”), Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (voice of “Priya”), director Domee Shi, writer Julia Cho, and producer Lindsey Collins. During the course of the conference we learned about the inspiration behind the film, how the character Mei Lee is a natural role model for girls to look up to, and the aesthetic known as ‘chunky cute’.

With each Disney & Pixar film, it’s always fun to learn what is the initial drop of inspiration that sparks what we get to see much later on. And, after the release of the first TURNING RED trailer, focus was grabbed by not only the main character Mei Lee but also the dramatic transformation of her into an (adorable) red panda. Director Domee Shi explained the film’s inspiration being close to home, and how it was directly drawn from her own life experiences back in Canada:

“[It] just came from my own life growing up in the early aughts. [A] Chinese Canadian, dorky, sassy, nerdy girl who thought she had everything under control. She was her mom’s good little girl, and then boom, puberty hit, and I was bigger. I was hairier. Was hungry all the time. I was a hormonal mess. And I was fighting with my mom, like, every other day.”

Domee further explained that the film itself was a chance to explore that particular time in her life. Along with screenwriter Julia Cho, it was a chance to excavate, reflect, and understand what all had happened during that period in their lives.

With the story set, the major task at hand was to create a character that would bring the audience in. With charm, sass, and general pizzazz, the team knocked it out of the park with the design and execution of Mei Lee, creating a character that many – both young and old – would relate to. A part of this is due to a combination of Domee’s direction and voice actor Rosalie Chiang’s work in bringing the character to life.

Knowing that the character will be considered a role model to many, the question was asked to the panel why should girls look up to Mei Lee, everyone had something to say (and we 100% agree with all that was said cause Mei Lee rocks). Rosalie shared that the character’s drive is something for girls to look up to. Mei Lee never goes halfway and she just plows on right through.

“Also, the fact that she goes through change, is something that everyone goes through in their life. Especially puberty,” Rosalie shared. “It’s such a messy and weird and awkward time that I literally went through when I was during the duration of recording for Pixar. And I hope people admire what she goes through and how she deals with it.”

Hyein Park, who voices Abby, brought up Mei Lee’s vulnerability and how the character was willing to admit to her mistakes and try to find ways to fix them. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who voices Priya, pointed out that Mei Lee’s kind heart and giving nature made the character someone to look up to, especially since Mei Lee is in the middle of figuring all of these confusing life things out. Ava Morse, who voices Miriam, also pointed out Mei Lee’s intellect, and added that the friend group represented onscreen were nerdy but not in a way that was to be made fun of. No, these are cool nerds and we’d be surprised if people didn’t instantly fall in love with their energy and vibe onscreen.

Of course, we can’t walk away from TURNING RED without discussing the aesthetic represented in the film. Since the release of the much-beloved Pixar short, Bao, there is a certain visual that continues to draw Domee in to play around with onscreen. This visual aesthetic has been referred to as “chunky cute” by production designer Rona Liu, who has worked on Bao, Kitbull, and TURNING RED. In all honesty, we’re all here for it.

“You saw it on Bao, and we wanted to kinda explore it again with this film, because it just felt like the perfect style to tell this story about this girl, and really show the world through her eyes, right?” Domee explained. “Like how does she see the world? How does she see people? And just really making the world feel like it was designed by a 13-year-old girl. So that’s kind of how we coined that chunky cute style.”

This style also became the glue to bring the crew together in trying to figure out how to nail the approach and feel of the film, according to Producer Lindsey Collins. Since every department is involved in a project like this, nailing down the description of the aesthetic was the key to getting everyone on the same wavelength.

“I think it was all trying to figure out kind of how to hold hands collectively as a crew, and lean into the color palette, and just the design approach for the characters and the sets, and kind of know that if we’re gonna push it, it kinda has to be pushed in a collective way on every department,” Lindsey explained. “Chunky cute was the thing that Domee would say to introduce everybody to the aesthetic of the film.”

With its chunky cute aesthetic, the direction from Domee, the all too relatable storyline (sans Red Panda transformation), and the natural chemistry and charisma from its voice cast, TURNING RED is sure to win the hearts of many. A breath of fresh air and a welcome distraction from life, we can’t recommend this movie enough right now for audiences to take in.

TURNING RED is now available exclusively on Disney+. To learn more about the film, check out our review!