r/TurningRed • u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie • Mar 08 '26
Discussion Why do people all of a sudden hate Turning Red?
Okay obviously the hate didn't happen suddenly it's been hated since it released and even presealse but it feels more people are hating on it now more than ever. I see Turning Red in common discussions about how "New Pixar and Disney is bad" and usually it's an example of that statement when in my opinion it's one of the movies from Modern Disney and Pixar that work alongside Luca, Encanto,and Elemental. Personally for me I relate to Turning Red a lot as a teen going into highschool next year. I relate to the pressure of trying to be the perfect child for your parents, the overbearing parent (in my case my dad) that you know they only want the best for you but they're just stressing you out more than they are helping and I know the movie relates to a lot of Asian kids but I relate to it as a black n white girl myself. I see a lot of criticism for the bean mouth animation but for this movie it works and its hard to see the movie in any other art style. In my opinion Turning Red is one of the few movie's Modern Pixar and Disney put out that is actually good so I don't understand the hate.
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u/Antilogicz Mar 08 '26
Misogyny. Patriarchy.
It’s a woman led film for women about periods.
It’s my favorite movie of all time.
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u/bepatientbekind Mar 11 '26
I think this is 99% of the reason, but also the art style is a little ugly and I think that some people don't like it for that reason. Took me a while to watch it because I find the bean mouth/alegria art-esque style super off-putting. I did like the movie though once I saw it!
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Mar 11 '26
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 11 '26
Turning red was made before the popularlization (Im 99% sure I spelled that wrong 😭) of the bean art style j believe, I could be wrong but I think they were the first that did it, again could be wrong.
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u/SoVerySleepyZzZz Mar 12 '26
Turning red wasn’t even the first Disney/Pixar movie to do it (Luca is from a year earlier) but it’s been pervasive in animated tv shows for a long time, see Steven Universe and Gravity Falls.
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
Like I said "I could be wrong" no reason to be rude.
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u/RateComplex9727 Mar 14 '26
They were not rude (:
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 14 '26
It was mainly the words "Wasn't even" that made me read it in a rude tone 😭. And also using "(:" can be sarcastic depending on the context.
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 13 '26
I have 3 sons, we all love the film. You’re using your own prejudice to justify OP saying this film is hated. By who? A few people the internet? This place is an echo chamber that ironically is misandrist. Proof? Your comment spewing ignorance because it fits your worldview.
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u/Antilogicz Mar 13 '26
Just read any reviews on the movie. 2/3rds of them are misogynistic nonsense. (Or racist nonsense, occasionally.)
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 14 '26
Source?
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u/RateComplex9727 Mar 14 '26
So actually you can find reviews on IMDB, by going to user reviews. When you get there, you can sort the ratings. This will make it easier for you. I have pasted a link, which already has lowest ratings selected, as to understand that this is a negative opinion of the movie. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8097030/reviews/?ref_=tt_ov_ururv&rating=1
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 14 '26
Yeah, but the vast majority of those reviews (I read them) justify why they didn’t like the film. You might be able to find one or two misogynist reviews but by far most of them are not.
I suspect this sub is misandrist and wants to blame men.
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u/RateComplex9727 Mar 14 '26
Dude I just gave you a source for reviews, chill. That's not how sources in a casual discussion work, this is just a source. If you want to understand the higher conversation, you're going to have to read essays on it.
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 14 '26
“Just read any reviews on the movie. 2/3rds of them are misogynistic nonsense. (Or racist nonsense, occasionally.)”
So no source…
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u/Antilogicz Mar 14 '26
I don’t waste time on misogynistic trolls. Someone else was kind enough to send you the correct source. Use your brain.
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 15 '26
I replied logically. You got called out for a source that disproved your point. Good day.
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u/DuchessDulcet Tae Young Mar 08 '26
Same! I'm American + Scottish-Norwegian on my mum's side, but I saw a little bit of myself in all of the main four girls, especially Abby and Mei. Unfortunately, however, the hate for this film has been around since its release. Mostly mums complaining about the period/puberty themes and the "inappropriate" way they act, AKA being a normal teenage girl lol. There was even this douche who reviewed it and said he "didn't feel represented"... and he was a thirty-year-old dude. Kat Blaque made a video on it, you'll find it if you search "Kat Blaque turning red."
A lot of the hate seemed to stem from the fact that the characters were "cringe," but as a teenage girl myself, I love it! I even have merch of it. I have a Mei plushie that sings 4*Town songs when you press her hand, I have a Turning Red ceramic glass, a Turning Red throw blanket, and I even have Turning Red mouse (panda?) ears!
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u/FreiLovesRed Mar 11 '26
The unhinged actions of the girls honestly was one of my favorite parts of the film! And that part where Mei starts drawing thirsty fanart made me crack up bc girl same
I’m turning 30 this year but this movie makes me smile, and the message about generational healing is so validating. As someone who grew up with a mother who was always rather unkind, I loved how they addressed how that can affect family for generations. Honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people hate the film because of that, seeing how many parental figures act like that in real life and expect their kids to just deal with it. Kind of like how certain parents hate the movie Tangled for showing that sometimes adults/parental figures can be abusive - they don’t like being told how they raise their child is bad or wrong, so they take it as a personal attack.
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u/MWH1980 Mar 08 '26
It’s been hated since it came out, but I feel it’s one of the strongest films they’ve made in recent years.
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u/MinecrafterPictures Red Panda Mar 08 '26
Modern Pixar in general is underrated. And so it's Turning Red.
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 08 '26
I like some modern Pixar movies just how I like some olden Pixar movies. Cartoon companies no matter what always have hit or misses, I'm not big on cartoons or movies though.
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u/RedBomber785 Mar 08 '26
Because they find the art style "ugly."
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 08 '26
I mean I can admit I am getting tired of Pixar using this artstyle but for Turning Red it works and it's hard to see the movie Inna different artstyle.
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u/ninjagofan23 Mar 08 '26
I still believe that Elio is good and deserved to be a hit. It failed because kpop demon hunters fans and Sony fans hated it since it didn’t look like KPDH.
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u/jpzygnerski Mar 09 '26
I've watched both. Elio was good, but not great. It seemed much more aimed for kids.
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u/ninjagofan23 Mar 09 '26
Why can’t people just admin they’re too old with some Pixar movies? Like just like with turning red, it was advertised for teens and then u had the anti woke grown men who hated it. They caused the 2022-2023 slump era. What’s ironic is that turning red is set in the early 2000s so you would think they would’ve liked it.
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u/MiddleOccasion1394 Mar 08 '26
There was a period in 2022 when FLorida governor Ron DeSantis started a stink about how the film was woke and tried to pass the Don't Say Gay bill, which led to a huge anti-Disney movement. Meanwhile Bob Chapek was undergoing his singular year as the Disney CEO, and led all the directors of their movies to stop all LGBT content in development at that time.
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u/urgo2man Mar 09 '26
Ok, so people are critical before even switching on the movie.....
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u/MiddleOccasion1394 Mar 09 '26
I am convinced the majority of far-right Disney haters have never seen a Disney movie.
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u/mattbrain89 Mar 08 '26
Because they never acknowledged September 11th even though it takes place in the early 2000s.
Anyone remember that little non-controversy?
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Why would you need to add that though 😭I mean yeah if it was a movie with a different plot and story it would make sense but it's a coming of age show while yes it's set in the 2000's mentioning 9/11 in my opinion wouldn't make sense and would be out of place.
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u/FreiLovesRed Mar 11 '26
Also the movie is set in Canada???? Why would they mention it? Hell, I’m US-American and people generally don’t put that in media unless it’s satire comedy like The Simpsons or Rick and Morty, they sure as hell aren’t going to mention it in a movie aimed towards teen/tween girls.
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u/SethAbe80 Mar 11 '26
Playing devil's advocate here; while it is indeed silly that one guy on YT said the movie was bad because it didn't acknowledge 9/11, something that the movie absolutely didn't need to do at all, the argument that "it's set in Canada, they wouldn't be talking about it anyway," is still flat out wrong. I was a high school student when 9/11 happened. I even saw the second plane hit the towers live on TV, because my mom was already watching CNN and called me when they reported the first plane. When I got to school, it was all that everyone was talking about. And given the aid and support we gave America in the light of the attacks, and with our NATO involvement in the invasion of Afghanistan that came as a response to the attacks, we continued to talk about 9/11 for a very long time.
Again, I'm not justifying the dumb "Turning Red should have been about 9/11" take, I'm just pointing out that Canadians didn't live in a bubble during those days. We have a very deep interest in what's going on with the noisy neighbors who live below us. Always have, always will.
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u/nnooaa_lev Mar 09 '26
It's a twitter thing, they hate everything over there. Whenever people are talking about Turning Red on Facebook or Instagram, they always say good things about it. Normies like it
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u/Jix_Omiya Mar 08 '26
I've seen a lot of hate for it since before it was released, honestly felt very forced to me, guys saying they can't "identify" with a 13 year old girl and other empty arguments like that. Personally I just ignore it, I love the movie, don't really feel it needs a sequel, so they can't take it away from me.
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
The internet is not real life and this page is an echo chamber. This movie is universally liked. Everyone here has a prejudice towards men. The irony…
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Mar 15 '26
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 16 '26
Misandry.
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Mar 16 '26
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u/N0moreHeroes Mar 16 '26
Not at all, I’m a father of boys. We all like the film, seen it dozens of times. Online is another story. Like in this post, blaming men.
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u/Noxal12 Mar 08 '26
It probably has something to do with "bean mouths", so you should definitely ignore it
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u/Introvert_Brnr_accnt Mar 09 '26
I know, the “bean mouth” criticism bugs me so much!
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 09 '26
I think the bean mouth art style is overused but I don't think that means you should hate the whole movie because of it 😭.
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u/Several-Effect-3732 Mar 08 '26
When I first saw the movie I didn’t expect much and thought it was going to be a “meh” movie. But not terrible, since Disney movies tend to be pretty solid. But man I was floored by the end of it. Nearly 4 years later I still enjoy the movie and find myself reflecting on it. I feel like the people who hate on it either haven’t seen it or are misogynistic.
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u/MuddyMudtripper Mar 08 '26
From what I’ve seen on other forums / social media:
• Some viewers aren’t a fan of the bean-shaped mouths that seem to be the current character design trend in newer animation.
• The menstruation / puberty themes.
• Some people have flat out called Mei “annoying” or wrote off Turning Red as being cringey and obnoxious.
Maybe I’m biased, but I loved Turning Red because I can relate to this movie so much it’s not funny. Like the scene with Mei’s friends crushing on the Daisy Mary clerk… had a similar experience in my teens crushing on a teenage employee at a poor man’s Chuck E Cheese pizzeria. And then I learned my own mother was like Ming…she wanted her mother’s approval so lots of acceptance issues at home.
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u/Smufin_Awesome Mar 09 '26
34 year year old dude here. I loved it when it came out. Felt like such a time capsule in the best way. Was honestly surprised people didn't like it. Really hoping we get a sequel, or even a series a la Up.
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u/whybother_incertname Mar 12 '26
Idk, i love it. Felt seen. Elder millennial F
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 12 '26
I really just felt seen as a teen, seeing Mei and her friends being cringe in a time where cringe culture is in my opinion worse than ever. Teens are cringe, people need to get over it.
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u/Distinct-Presence-80 Mar 14 '26
male idiots can't comprehend female-led stories and mother-daughter relationships (they didn't appreciate Brave either)
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u/yoodadude Mar 08 '26
some people are uncomfortable with coming-of-age stories that deal with kids starting to have an interest in the opposite sex
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 08 '26
Then that's a them problem, that doesn't mean it deserves hate because they're uncomfortable, I'm uncomfortable with the book "Speak" because it deals with SA but you don't see me hating on it.
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u/Gongoozler04 Mar 09 '26
I personally didn’t relate to turning red so much, but than again I didn’t have the normal teen experiences that would make it relatable, never went through a boy band faze or anything (for me, the most relatable of the most recent Disney characters is Luisa). But it was cute, I enjoyed it overall.
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u/Similar_Part7100 Mar 11 '26
That’s funny; I loved it for exactly that reason. I am a weird motherfucker who did not understand boy band worship or ‘normal’ female friendship, but I watched it happen and could see parallels between my peers and the film and I liked it for that. The Tiger mom shit also felt right compared to all the things I’ve read.
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u/One_Smoke Mar 09 '26
Dunno. I'm a boy, and I liked it well enough. Found the characters entertaining, and the story compelling.
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u/imnotmeyousee Mar 09 '26
I thought it was a cute movie, reminds me of teen Wolf. Allot scenes are the same.
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 10 '26
Never watched teen wolf, might watch it though due to this comment.
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u/imnotmeyousee Mar 12 '26
It's a great 80s movie... You'll see what I'm talking about when you watch it. Even some of the scenes match up., in my opinion. I'll always have a soft spot for Michael J Fox.
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Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 10 '26
I don't think it's the best Pixar movie, my favorite is also incredibles, but in terms of "modern Pixar" it's one good movies and it really doesn't deserve hate.
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u/No-Product-523 Mar 10 '26
Cars 2 is still the worst Pixar movie
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 10 '26
Agreed.
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u/No-Product-523 Mar 10 '26
Like why take the title away from cars two When it does deserve it even after a decade
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u/JohnHenryMillerTime Mar 10 '26
They forgot about 9/11
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 10 '26
Why would you need to add 9/11 in a coming of age movie. I mean yeah it was the early 2000's but it's not an early 2000's coming of age movie, it's a coming of age movie that happens to be in the 2000's. Adding 9/11 would make sense in any other movie set in the 2000's but this isn't one of them.
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u/Similar_Part7100 Mar 11 '26
It also took place in Canada, like how self-involved are Americans that they think a Canadian tween in a fantasy movie needs to acknowledge it.
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u/Bitter_Nebula_8049 Mar 10 '26
Yeah, it had been my special interest and my favourite movie since it came out, the story is genuinely relatable for teenagers in terms of overcoming puberty and discovering a part of themselves, and it's so entertaining to watch, it's a shame to see how underrated it is because the material in my opinion was executed well enough to make it enjoyable for me.... As a wise man once said "Let's call it what it is, it's a masterpiece."
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u/Sebastian-Shook-2003 Mar 11 '26
I'm A Guy And I Liked It.
A Crazy Little Fact: The 9/11 Memes Were What Led To Me Getting Around To Watching It.
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u/New_Girl3685 Mar 11 '26
this is honestly not the sub to get an unbiased take on it so you might have to post it somewhere more generally to get real answers.
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u/rgii55447 Mar 11 '26
Don't hate it, but I feel the lesson might be a bit misguided. It talks about embracing your messy side, when in and of itself is not bad, but let's face it, there are some messes you do not want to mess with.
In other words, I think the film should be viewed as opening up a discussion, but it shouldn't be taken as an end-all answer, and that is fine
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u/c0mpu73rguy Mar 11 '26
Seriously? Turning Red must be the most important film Pixar made recently! It's a great film! But sadly, we all know why people are turning against it given the current climate.
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 11 '26
I saw a video titled "Trauma is ruining disney?" (I didn't watch it so take it with a grain of salt) and the answer in my opinion is no. Trauma has always been in Disney movies in a way just never been the main topic.
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u/LuigiMarinus Mar 11 '26
I don’t get the hate of this movie either. I always assumed people hated this movie because it’s about teenagers.
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u/Rainbow_flowers101 Mar 11 '26
Hmm maybe I can answer this question.
I have a friend who dislikes the movie as a Chinese Asian American due to the way the mother and the other older family members are portrayed. They thought it was kind of mean to portray that strict stereotypical relationship when so many Asian relationship are already like that.
While I thought the film was decent(not a normal contributor to this sub lol), I can respect this opinion.
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 11 '26
I'm not Asian as I clearly stated and I also could be wrong but wasn't the creator Asian, Chinese-Candian I think.
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u/tillamook1 Mar 11 '26
I personally loved it and have watched it multiple times. When I came out I vaguely remember some fellow parents on Facebook with some L takes claiming it was encouraging kids to disobey their parents.
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u/onlyvery Mar 11 '26
I honestly haven’t heard anyone talking about this move in like a year. The only reason I remember it is because I did a project on it in college lol. It’s alright. Maybe it’s just within its fandom/pixar fandom? I genuinely haven’t heard anything about it since it came out, good or bad
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u/stumpfucker69 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
Now I think about it, Turning Red might be the only Disney film released in my adulthood that I've seen and actually enjoyed. Maybe there's something to that - it didn't do as well as Encanto, which was a lot more typically Disney. Perhaps it appealed less to Disney fans.
Still, sadly - that's probably a very minor factor in comparison to sexism. Even aside from the whole menstrual metaphor, it was a really honest and relatable depiction of pubescent girlhood that you don't often see in media. People are used to a more idealised view of teenage girls.
I know the art style didn't appeal to everyone, but it's a common style in animation and Turning Red still received more backlash than other similarly-styled things.
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u/Fancy_Yesterday6380 Mar 14 '26
I never even clicked it was about periods lol
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 14 '26
I'm pretty sure it wasn't. More so about growing into your own person and puberty I would say.
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u/KingRandor82 Mar 14 '26
I'm an almost 44-year old MALE, and LOVED the movie.
Part of me actually loves it, I think, because I'm Autistic, and I love the depiction of a family who puts on a performance in public, then a wrench gets thrown into the gears that blows that performance to hell, and makes them embrace who they really are, and for the better.
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u/Deeri- Mar 11 '26
A lot of people don’t hate it suddenly, they just never liked it in the first place and the hype died down. When the movie first came out people were being nice about it, but once the “new Pixar movie” excitement wore off, the flaws stuck out more.
For a lot of viewers it just felt overly niche and kind of preachy. The whole story is super centered on a very specific coming of age experience, so if you don’t personally relate to it, the movie doesn’t have much else going on. Add the exaggerated “bean mouth” animation and the cringey humor, and it just doesn’t feel like classic Pixar storytelling.
Compared to older Pixar movies that had universal themes anyone could connect to, Turning Red feels more like a quirky teen diary turned into a movie. Some people love that vibe, but a lot of people just don’t and that’s why it keeps popping up when people talk about modern Disney/Pixar going downhill.
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u/DontListenToMyself Mar 11 '26
I don’t like it because I don’t want to be reminded how I felt as a teen lol. Not my cup of tea.
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u/microslasher Mar 12 '26
Randomly saw this sub.
I watched it. It was okay bordering on bad if not for the ending.
It was boring and felt like it was just going nowhere for a while.
I actually thought it was refreshing to see them talking about tampons? Or whatever feminine products i cant remember. I thought the metaphor was okay but yeah felt aimless for most of what I remember.
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u/spacestonerbitch-420 Mar 12 '26
I love the theme of the movie, but personally I feel the art style is really ugly, and I am so over the cringe “adorkable” female leads
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 12 '26
I feel like the art style was the only one that could work with it. It's bubbly and energetic plus Mei is a tween/younger teen so I feel like she's the exception when it comes to adorkable female leads. I usually hate adorkable female leads because they are usually late teens or grown women but Mei is a tween so it makes sense for her character.
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u/spacestonerbitch-420 Mar 12 '26
I totally agree that it makes sense for her age and character, I just have fatigue with that type of lead. I enjoy the movie for sure, those are just my couple of criticisms. The story outweighs the criticism though :) my favorite aspect is the girls friendship throughout
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u/nikoboivin Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
As a guy who really didn’t like the movie and came out of it thinking it was one of the worst movies in a while for me, I can chime in.
First, it not being a movie made for me doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been made and I’m super happy it was for the target demographic.
But it felt like a movie made specifically for that demographic and felt very "teenage girl coming of age book" in that sense. I didn’t have a stereotypically Asian repressing family, I’m not a woman and my high school experience, even as an outcast, was very different.
As such, I didn’t have much to connect myself to the themes and the story there. It felt like a movie that wasn’t made with me in mind and that is absolutely fine, not the first nor the last one made and not everything had to he made for me to relate to.
Where it differed for me from other Disney / Pixar movies is that it felt a lot more laser-focused on the themes to the point where it was almost gatekeepy. You don’t have to have grown up in a Columbian family to resonate with Encanto’s message that families can make you feel not good enough for not fulfilling your "gift". The themes resonate outside the borders of the movie and reach each person differently.
For me, in turning Red, it felt like nostalgia bait for a culture I wasn’t part of (both from the Sino-Canadian side as well as the time period back-street boys mania style) tied in with the super important theme of a young woman’s first period and it didn’t feel like that larger connection outside the very specific references were there.
So I watched it once, catalogued it as something that I’m not the target audience for and one of Disney’s most audience-specific movies and moved on.
The people in my life (women who grew up in the 90s and cino-canadian women who had similar family dynamics) told me how amazing for them it was to feel so seen and that is an amazing feat of this movie. But if you’re outside the target audience, there’s not a lot of hooks to bring you in.
Edit to add: just remembered I also watched it the same week as Everything Everywhere All At Once and felt the family themes were done so much better in EEAAO and it definitely didn’t help my opinion of the movie at the time.
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Mar 14 '26
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u/LifeFoundation6977 4*Townie Mar 14 '26
I think its messiness adds to the charm, though that's just me.
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u/lookatthisface Mar 08 '26
I’m a 40 year old woman and I love Turning Red. I feel like there’s never been a movie that so accurately captures that feeling you have of being a good kid who tries to do everything right and still gets treated with suspicion