Pixar just dropped a teaser trailer for its upcoming animated film, Turning Red which reveals that it’s set in Toronto in the early 2000s and features the hijinks that come with a 13-year-old turning into a giant talking Red Panda.
The first trailer shows off the film’s protagonist, Mei Lee who is an ordinary 13-year-old girl that gets stressed out pretty easily. During class, Mei (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) is handed a note from her classmate that lets her know that her overprotective Mother, Ming (voiced by Sandra Oh) is watching over her behind a tree outside. Her mother then gets into an altercation with the school’s security guard, which gets the attention of the classroom
While all this is going on Mei is panicking which leads to a giant pink smoke-filled explosion in the classroom. In a loud roar, Mei has turned into a giant red panda and quickly escapes out of embarrassment, we get a couple of shots of Mei’s mother chasing after her daughter as she rocks some giant red panda parkour action.
Not much else is known other than the basic synopsis and the familiar setting for anyone who lives in the GTA area. Turning Red will be director/writer Domee Shi’s first full-length feature film.
The director’s debut for a movie of this scale comes after the release of Pixar’s Oscar award-winning short film, Bao (2018) which Shi wrote, directed and is credited as the storyboard artist. The Turning Red director has also worked in the animation department for other recent Pixar movies like Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4.
“We are beyond thrilled that director Domee Shi chose her hometown of Toronto as the backdrop for her new feature film,” Walt Disney Studios Canada’s VP of Marketing, Greg Mason said. “With Ottawa native Sandra Oh lending her voice and a group of very talented Canadian artists on the filmmaking team, Turning Red truly is a love letter to Toronto and Canada. There are a couple of great Canadian easter eggs in this trailer and we can’t wait for Canadian audiences to see more when the film hits theatres next year.”
Turning Red is set to hit theatres on March 11th, 2022.
