Yvonne C

Is this what happens when you put a good team and budget behind a true artist that gets to retain integrity in their artistic visions??? I did NOT expect this to be so good. Olivia is a songwriter embarking on her unique journey in this world- captured beautifully in the cinematography of this film. The new mixes are genre-transcending and her band clearly takes inspiration from a wide variety of musical eras and styles. I LOVEEEE this film’s version of favorite crime, jealousy jealousy, brutal and hope ur ok which all offer new musical takes. All of them were just as good, if not better (Except for good 4 u, which was the only miss imo). So excited for what Olivia does next.

This movie gave me PTSD...in a good way. The red panda symbolizes so much: breaking free from the oppressive expectations of strict parents, finding your own individuality, the awkwardness of puberty, deviating from tradition, rebelling, acknowledging generational trauma.... it symbolizes living life for yourself instead of others. I personally found the animation a little jarring at first, but it really grew on me throughout the movie and you can really tell that the animators took use of their creative freedom. The food scene, and the legend of sun yee parts were visually STUNNING. Spoiler alert: It's scary how much the crazy mom's behaviour mirrors the actions of real crazy parents and their dynamic with their children. How her mom expected perfection, how Mei worked so hard to garner praise, how terrified she was to lose her mother's approval, and how the mother so readily shifts blame to others (Miriam, Devon) to preserve the narrative that her daughter is perfect and it is external problems that are "corrupting her". It was hard to suspend my disbelief at the ending. (Come on, the cycle is much harder to break. Just like how Abuela from Encanto actually apologized??? Unrealistic). But obviously, it's a pixar film, so I thought the ending was perfect. it was so incredibly healing to have this story paint a picture of hope and mutual understanding between generations. The absurdity of a giant red panda makes for great physical comedy. Overall, this movie is super fun on the surface level, but holds a lot of room for deeper interpretation.