We recently hired a new co-editor to help out with the videos so hopefully we'll be back to releasing videos every week very soon! Also, I'm still in Poland and occasionally posting updates on my IG. Thanks for all the love and support! - Sam Live channel: ruclips.net/channel/UClLU6EveVOrcfRJKvbINJ9Q Instagrams: @stefanwolf_tmb @samlanemusic Discord server: discord.gg/GgWp3JzVFV
Best wishes to Maria and family. Hope they are doing ok. So glad you are able to be with her Sam and kudos to you for carrying on filming. Please know that it would be ok to take a break though. Shout out to Stef as well. This is a fab channel. You two have both nuanced insight and a fab sense of humor. Watching movies with you guys is great. Take care, love from you UK x
Seeing two men so thoroughly understand what this movie means for women, and what growing up can tend to be like for girls, is so refreshing, and so gratifying, that I can’t really put it into words. Thank you for this reaction, and I’m so glad you loved this movie. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride of a film for me, and I completely agree with you that this movie is an important cinematic milestone. I also definitely agree that people saying the amount of teenage girl rebellion and lust in this movie, plus subjects like periods and “cleaning your petals” is “inappropriate for young ladies” despite it being so.. not only normal but completely necessary to talk about, proves exactly why this movie needed to be made.
Seriously I love it. Waaaayyy to many men(mainly white for some reason) hate this movie saying they can't understand it but I'm just like it's not that hard to comprehend is it?
Some people are saying that the awkwardness of adolescence/puberty is too mature for Pixar audiences? Seriously, some people need to get over themselves. Some Disney movies out there are way too inappropriate for kids if you think about it.
@@madeleinereads I know, right??? Like, they clearly haven't seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame! Or even just seen "Hellfire" from the same movie! There is some seriously creepy stuff in some Disney movies, like Gaston wanting to basically own Belle, or Jafar being a perv to Jasmine, who's barely 16 years old, or Prince Hans wanting to kill Anna and Elsa to get to the throne and nearly getting away with it? Or heck, Clayton dying by hanging in Tarzan, and we see the shadow of his body? Some people need to pay closer attention before deciding that animation is just for kids and can't have dark content or important lessons in it. Say it with me: "Animation is NOT a genre!"
I really loved how supportive Mei's friends were after learning her secret. They stuck by her the entire time, and even let Tyler into their group afterwards. Such a pure friendship. ❣️
I totally agree with you guys! I think a lot of the anger that abused parents have with their children rebelling is because of the pain that comes from jealousy. You see your child doing exactly what you always wanted and it fills you with jealousy because you wish you had the courage. It's almost as if your child's rebellion is living proof that you could have had a different life and missed it.
obsessed with generational trauma and the pressures of upward mobility being a real driving force for plot in so many kids movies as of late. mei meeting her mom’s hurt inner child was a legendary scene for me
@@jenthejen can you give me an example of pressures of upward mobility and generational trauma being a driving force in other kids movies plots? I would like to know what they are.
I think the scene in the bamboo forest is so interesting, because Ming was wearing an uniform so we can assume that traumatic episode took place qhen she was so young, and Meimei leads her through the forest and we can see that her mom has been carrying those feelings her whole life. She never had the support group her daughter has. And it is really nice that Meimei can break the cycle and make the decision to live her life differently at such a young age.
And since MeiMeis mom thought MeiMei transformed too soon, it would make sense why her mom is in a school uniform. I assumed high school, and I enjoyed that scene a lot :)
The fact that Sandra Oh worked on this and the fact that it’s a first for an Asian-Canadian protagonist and a great crew who are not mere tokens but can tell a story on their own and are claiming the Asian Excellence we’ve been deprived of in the media makes my heart happy ♥️
A shame that Sandra Oh's other film 'Umma' is being ignored. I haven't heard about it except seeing it in the theater showtimes in my state and on Good Morning America.
“Menstruation is the only blood not born from violence, yet it’s the one that disgusts you the most.” - Maia Schwartz It was disappointing to see some reviews for this film suggest Turning Red to be appropriate, or not suitable due to its themes about menstruation. With it being about puberty, especially for girls, so many young women found comfort and relatability in it. Turning red is a film with its own quirks and scuffs, and I for one enjoyed watching something that accurately shows what puberty is like for some girls. I’m glad it’s getting positive feedback as well, along with constructive criticism. My only wish is that 4 Town would be an actual boy band! 🎶
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster That’s assuming they know what that is and it’s more than just random internet trolls. Sadly one ep of a show doesn’t stop others from censors and shaming people for having a period, nor fixing other issues.
This movie really resonated with me with how it handled a teen girl discovering attraction and sexuality. I was lucky for the whole period thing as my mum had prepared me plenty beforehand. But the amount of extreme shame and guilt I felt for being really passionate about something, or being attracted to someone or feeling horny as a young teen really messed with my head for years.
Oof, unlike me. I thought I was gonna die or have to go to the ER because my mom expected me to go one more year without my period 😭 My sister was ready though and wasn't shocked, because I've talked about it before nonchalantly in front of her so she already knew when it happened 😂 But yea teenage girls are teenage girls, I mean what're you gonna do?? Some guys act like this is a bad movie just because it was aimed more for the female audience and addresses female teenage things. I'm sure they wouldn't think that way if it was the male side of things.
@@Glitchyybean Damn, sorry you had to go through that. I can absolutely believe that you'd think you are dying if you had no idea about periods and then just started bleeding randomly. Along with cramps too... ugh. My mum hadn't been told by _her_ mum, so she made sure she told me what was going to happen a couple years in advance.
I love how this movie shows seriously positive and healthy friendships. Yes, her friends embrace her for who she is, but they also embrace Tyler for liking 4-Town (and who he is). I'm happy for my son to watch this movie to see support and what to aspire to as a friend.
So real how horrifying it felt to tell my mom I didn’t want her to come with me and my friends to the mall for the first time. They really captured the guilt that comes with trying to healthily break away a little bit from parents.
Parents just need to understand that their kids are growing and becoming more themselves, more autonomous. It's scary to break away when you've taken care of them their whole childhood, but it's a huge opportunity for them to truly be independent.
I can't relate on a personal level since my mum assumed pretty early on that as a young boy I wouldn't want her hanging with me and my friends, but I agree; they really captured the moment so effectively that even an outsider like myself can feel it - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 agreeeeeed. They’re not shy about the fact that this movie is very specific to teenage girls, (hence the backlash 🥲) but with universal preteen experience woven in. I think another aspect specific to young girls is depicted early in the film. The emphasis on young girls crushing on fictional boys (boy bands, fictional characters etc.) is very common because of the combination of lingering innocence and boys like Tyler lol. 13 year old female hormones zero in on that dream fictional boy instead of real life boys 100%. Crushes for girls often originate in fantasy world because real life boys are going through their own version of puberty and do not meet the high standard of what girls are taught to expect from a “boyfriend”. I remember being terrified of real life boys at that age lol. It causes girls to channel all that puberty energy into fictional or older boys (like that poor bastard at the Daisy Mart 😂). Another thing I appreciate about this movie is the emphasis on the strain that puberty puts on the mother/daughter dynamic. It’s really difficult to navigate on both sides. You have to make a child who feels like an adult feel validated, and also kind of maintain that protective nature because they’re still a kid. Girls are also highly emotional at this point and don’t want to hurt their mom’s feelings. It was spot on to mention the nuance that you guys recognized during your watch. It feels even worse to tell your mom you don’t want her around right now when she’s been a mum like Ming. Obviously overbearing, but very attentive and nurturing at the same time 🥲 As a young mom to a daughter myself, I really identified with both Mei and Ming. I’d definitely encourage anyone to revisit this movie after they have kids ❤️ definitely made me cry multiple times because of my new parental perspective lol
As an Asian-Canadian who has a really strict mom, this movie reallyyyyy hit hard for me. You guys spotted that the grandma was even more strict than the mom, which really struck me the second time I watched this movie. Like Mei-Lin’s mom, my mom never realized that she was controlling because she saw herself as “more lenient” than HER mother, so when I was unhappy or didn’t do what she liked, then it was never because of her. It was always my fault or someone else’s “bad influence”. Watching this movie made me cry because it makes me wish I tried to have this conversation with my mom when I was younger, instead of “locking away the panda” and dealing with the built-up psychological repercussions later in life. Still, I’m happy because I think this movie teaches a really good message to both children AND parents
Loved this film so much, I just loved the casual inclusion of sanitary products. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pads in a kids film before... and thinking about it, I haven’t seen them in many adult films either. This is an exciting moment.
You serious? I mean, yeah, *kids’* movies don’t talk about sanitary products much, because parents don’t want their kids learning about the reproductive system (male or female), but adult movies? Bruh, I learned about tampons from the movie _Black Balloon_ .
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster that’s brilliant that they were included in that film. I’m not saying they aren’t included ever, I’m just saying I haven’t seen them included in many.
when you think about the idea that Ming's panda was so big because she was so largely repressed that it manifested into a gigantic panda, it makes you feel so sorry for her and also makes you understand why she treated MeiLin the way she did. I'm so glad you guys reacted to this one because I knew you'd get it immediately and I was not disappointed. ❤️
Thanks bud! Yeah, I think Ming is probably one of the best examples of a sympathetic antagonist I've ever seen in any medium. Truly ten out of ten - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 46:42 i really don't think we should condone violene. He's a jerk but hitting someone never makes you look better. It's makes you just as bad.
People who say this movie is about "vaginas and periods" are just stupid honestly and didn't pay attention. It's about growing up, learning to be your on person and the relationships you have with your family, friends and crushes as you grow up. All these grown adults complaining are awful parents and I honestly hope it was generated buzz to get people to watch it
Just think about the fact, that a topic like periods - which literally exist, since women exist - (without them there would litterally be no human kind!) is still soo taboo in our "cultured" society that it just now got turned into a children's movie and still gets flag for it. Just shows how waaaaay behind we still are.
And that's exactly why I think it's such an important movie. The backlash from some people only proves how desperately we need more stories like this one to promote healthy, open discussions about sex and our bodies - Stef
I'm really happy y'all liked this movie. Yeah, unfortunately, I think it got a lot of weird pushback when it came out, The same way there was weird pushback when Brave (2012) came out. I'm happy to see more people appreciating Brave and I feel this movie is going to be remembered so well. Mei and her friends really capture being 13-year-old girls, including the mermaid obsession phase. I also liked how Mei didn't really care about being popular or not, she just wanted to spend time with her friends and enjoy their favorite things together. Like, I'm not saying that peer pressure and desiring for popularity aren't things that happen to teenage girls but there's so many ways to represent teen girl experiences.
Agreed, great to see people appreciating stories told from a woman's perspective (even though Brave sadly got a bit botched thanks to corporate meddling). I know what you mean with the whole popularity thing. It's nice that they didn't fall into a lot of those overused tropes. On a similar note I like how Mei and her friends were a bit boy crazy but the boys were never the focus of the story - it was firmly about Mei and her personal relationships with her friends and family, rather than trying to squeeze in a romantic subplot - Stef
I have literally watched this movie about 34 to 40 times because it's literally so unbelievably accurate to my experience and i cry everytime haha, so glad you reacted to this and i really wish this had a theatre release
Could you imagine the sheer amount of overbearing parents that would talk their child's ears of after though? I already heard about some people's parents complaining about the movie saying stuff like "this is teaching my child to misbehave/disobey me!"
The Incredibles: Subtle adult jokes, wife suspecting that her husband is committing adultery, death scenes, an attempted suicide and a villain committing genocide. Audience: ..... The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Frollo attempting to kill a baby and lusting over Esmeralda. Include serious topics such as using religion under the guise of discriminating the gypsies. Audience: ..... Turning Red: A 13 year old Chinese Canadian doing cringy things. For example: doodling a drawing of her crush which realistically portrays the behaviour of a young teenager. Also mentions periods. (Some) Audience: NOT MY SHOW!!!🤯
This movie was so therapeutic to watch as someone, who has almost exactly this relationship with their mom (and she has it with her mom). When Ming says "If I taught you that, I'm sorry", it hits me so hard. With this and Luca I'm so excited to see what's next for Pixar
I loved how deeply you guys understood the movie despite not relating to the culture and the exact experience of a teenage girl! It's nice to see people understand the mom's side as well, since I see a lot of people just start to hate her once the Devon scene happens. She is so HUMAN, so flawed and complex unlike a lot of parents in movies who are either basic loving parents or straight up abusive. It's a lot more complicated in real life, and more common. This movie hit me directly since I also speak Cantonese and besides my family running a temple, I had a childhood extremely similar to hers. Anyways, loved this video! Also btw yes, "four" is considered unlucky because the word for "four" also sounds like the word for "death" in Cantonese.
Thanks bud! Glad you liked the reaction. I don't get how anyone could hate Ming's character. Kinda seems like they missed the point of the story. I definitely didn't have the same childhood as you or Mei but I can definitely understand the intergenerational trauma aspect and I love how they framed that in such a universally human way while still being faithful to the characters' cultrural heritage - Stef
I love that Ming was still a child in the spiritual realm because it represents she was still stuck blaming herself for hurting her mom. That moment probably affected her mental state during the rest of her life, and she wasn't able to grow up from that until her own daughter shows her empathy and compassion. It also shows that they're finally able to connect in a more personal level because Ming sees Mei as an equal in that moment. She's her own person, not only a kid that depends on her constantly, and not a reflection of her as a mother. The moment she accepts this and realizes Mei is as independent as she was at that age, she's finally able to understand her. Another detail I think it's really cool is Mings panda being sealed in the Tamagochi. Yes, she gave up the panda, but she can still interact with it. It goes to show she's in touch with her emotions in a way she wasn't before. She's dealing with her own trauma in a different way that Mei, but it's still a step forward. Again, she's growing up.
When they are explaining the whole Sun yee transformation they did explained that the way it works is that the gods let her use her emotions to become panda, so you are absolutely right and it's possible that Meilin's mom had A LOT of anger and issues that manifested on her panda when she was older than Meilin. Considering how comfortable some of her sisters were to criticize her and blame her for Meilin running away, I can see them also being a contributing factor.
I know this comment was 2 years ago, but I just wanted to add because it's one of the things that amuses me most, notice how ready her sisters and mom were to nag at her and just how quickly they switched up the split second they realized her panda was coming out. The looks on their faces in that one moment never fail to make me laugh. Got some real 'oh shit, quiet one is going loud' energy to it.
it's taken me so long to acknowledge actions like that as abuse and even now I still hesitate to call it abuse so hearing you guys blatantly call it that is refreshing. when talking about abuse people rarely ever look at this side of it and I feel guilty for labeling this as abuse, I go through the feeling of "well they don't hit me or anything like that so I'm fine and i shouldn't complain"
And the ones who *were* hit say they probably deserved it (they don't remember), and it probably made them better (they're doing it to their own kids), it's good to brag because it makes "poc" families look better (it doesn't), and we can all joke about it (that's if you like dark humor), so it's totally fine :))
Emotional abuse is very much a thing, and while I've never been abused, I can understand it's hard to admit your family (who's supposed to protect you) can do such a thing. I think there is some generational trauma in my family, although not to this degree and we have solved things out. But yeah, admiting to yourself that you've been abused, especially by the people closest to you, is hard. It's a process and I hope you can work through your emotions safely.
I know what you mean. The thing to remember is that there's always "someone who has it worse" and they in turn are downplaying the abuse they receive. I myself was verbally and physically abused, but I always convinced myself it was fine because it was only ever open palm, even when my lip got busted open, because "that's just how Italian parents are, right? at least it wasn't a punch, right?" The guilt is a coping mechanism - blaming yourself is easier than coming to terms with the fact that someone you love could hurt you like that. It's not always easy to remember, but that doesn't make your experience any less valid. Mindfulness is a skill and not easy to learn, but as long as you keep at it, you'll start healing - Stef
I love how modern films try to show the generational trauma in a family. As a teen growing up with a strict Asian parents, I relate to this film a lot, specially the whole friendship dynamic where I felt more comfortable and happy with my friends than my family.
Btw, here's just how many period jokes there actually were: Gross red monster. The way she's walking stiffly when she's in her bedroom? I can confirm that's how we walk when we're trying not to move too much to prevent...an "accident". "Prevent any accidents." Curling up in the fetal position because it hurts. You can even make a case for the extreme emotions thing, cause a lot of us can attest that extreme emotions tend to make it...worse, let's say. And the friends neutralizing the panda? A way to show that having friends around to help you through it when you have an "accident" can make it less embarrassing.
The other girls not being scared of the panda bc there's a kind of kinship that's formed when you're all going through the same thing. I've had girls I don't know tell me I've got a spot and I'll love them forever/lh
A few more I found were referring to herself as a gross red monster, the falling into the wall, running crying inside was very relatable to period pain 🤣 and my favorite subtle one is the hiding of the tail in the hallway, I was always worried about it coming through my clothes
I'd also like to add sneezing, laughing etc. being horrible bc you know. And her touching her belly when she first changed because it usually gets bloated.
After watching Turning Red I was hoping you would react to it. I absolutely adore this movie, I love the dynamic of her friend group and how super supportive they are. The whole depiction of that akward teenager phase, getting your first period, fangirling over artists and stuff was just super relatable and made me feel kinda nostalgic. And while I couldn't personally relate to all aspects of the intergenerational trauma storyline, I do relate to some parts of it like wanting my parents approval, not speaking up when I thought they were in the wrong because I was afraid I might hurt their feelings etc. And while me and my parents are actually really close and I usually confide to them a lot of the stuff thats going on in my life it kinda made me realise that that is something we never really talked about. The heart to heart between Mei and her Mom really got to me at the end. And "Nobody like you" is still stuck in my head, so that's pretty amazing :D
Yeah, it's so funny to me there are actually people out there claiming this movie is "unrelatable" and only appeals to a "niche demographic" when it does such a good job of communicating it's messages in a way that doesn't require first hand experience to understand - Stef
Even though it was a brief moment in your reaction, I loved hearing you acknowledge that ace and aromantic people exist, especially since it runs so counter to most experiences of growing up in the traditional sense of crushes and the like. Just wanted to say thank you!
One thing I like, that I didn't think of until watching the movie a second time, was that they didn't make Tyler into the archetype of "being mean to you means he likes you/has a crush on you." He was just genuinely a jerk who turned out to have something in common with Mei, and both of them let bygones be bygones when they discovered they had the same interests. No secret crushes, no forced friendships. They genuinely learned to like each other as friends. I appreciate that, because the whole being mean=crush thing was something I was always told as a kid that annoyed me. Though I do wonder how his parents feel about his friendship with her, considering she attacked him, lol.
I had a friend who posted on facebook that they hated the movie and really criticized it and didn't understand it at all. After I watched it, I let them know how accurate it was with the intergenerational trauma and the chinese mom and embarrassment of teenage hormones. They said they didn't agree with the parenting in the movie and thus hated it...
I remember me and my BFF going to the No Strings Attached NSYNC tour, touching JC Chasez's hand and pretty much hyperventilated. Preteen girls are wild! Representation needed!!! All us girls were THIRSTY asses.
At first I was like $200 a ticket seems fair, for a big-name group...I think. Then I asked my Aunt, who bought me and my cousin tickets to see Backstreet Boys during their Millennium tour in 1999. $95 bucks WOW! no wonder Mei's mom was like "HAHAHA no. "
People have always been critical of teen girls. And women too. From twilight, to one direction, to makeup! Everything girls and women are stereotypically supposed to like people bash it! And if the girls say oh I’m into gaming you’re only doing it for guy’s attention! It’s honestly upsetting! ....
This! Also... it seems like loads of stuff with a female lead or that touches on female issues are dismissed as something ‘just for girls’, a ‘chick flick’.
I agree with all of that except the Twilight part considering how harmful that franchise was and is. Nothing to do with it being aimed at girls/women. The relationship dynamics were super bad - Sam
@@themoviebud1988As a girl who grew up during the Twilight era and was obsessed along with all of my friends, I'm going to ask you re-evaluate your comment. Getting swept up in the craze was a lot of fun as a teen at the time, problematic relationships aside. Not a single one of us grew up thinking that being stalked or co-dependant is sexy. We aren't damaged or confused about what makes a healthy relationship just because we loved Twilight. Have you met or heard of any adult women (remember Twilight fans are now in their late 20s and 30s) who blame their relationship struggles on Twilight? I think your comment is fear mongering and adults (an adult man may I point out) once again judging the things teen girls have liked and deciding on our behalf that it's dangerous for us. As though teenagers and women can't tell apart fiction and reality by themselves. Twilight deserves a lot of flack, but to call it 'harmful' is a stretch. We girls largely look back and cringe or laugh. To say Twilight is harmful to girls is like saying video games are harmful to boys. "Men, and especially teen boys, shouldn't be allowed to play violent shooting games because they'll grow up violent and wanting to kill real people." Debunked nonsense. Does anyone sit around and critisize how the oversexualization of many female characters in video games could be impacting teen boys? I've not seen it. Show me the real life women harmed by Twilight. I've not seen it.
I once heard someone say, "Gay men love women more than straight men do" and omg that is so true...the only thing people enjoy about women is what we have to offer..aslong as it's not their daughters, sisters, or mothers, doing offering it. (I'm referring to sex)
oh my god, now that you guys bring it up, the cages 4Town drop down probably ARE a reference to NSYNC's No Strings Attached tour in the year 2000, they opened the show coming down on "puppet strings" and they detached from them to represent their freedom from their previous management, oh that is actually GOLD
i love that you mentioned mabel!! both gravity falls and this movie accurately depict the thoughts, actions, and experiences of 12/13 year old girls and it seems like the people who have issues with the characters/storylines have never met a 12/13 year old girl before 😂
I think one of the best indicators of how well done this movie is is how every plot hole or question got answered. Even something you’d think was silly, or a “kids movie” would brush off was addressed(usually with a clever joke). You could tell how much effort and care went into this, and I’m glad there are people who appreciate it fully!! 💕
I love how the mom (voiced by Sandra oh) looks exactly like Sandra in real life and does the exact same facial and hand motions as she does in her regular acting.
The yearning I felt the first time I saw the scene with young Ming is more than I can put into words. I can't even imagine being able to comfort a younger version of my mom, who has gone through so much and is such a strong person both because of and in spite of everything she's dealt with. I bet it was pretty therapeutic for some of the animators as well (so many of us have soft spots for our stronger-than-anything mothers). While it can't be replicated in real life, seeing that comfort visually represented was incredibly moving.
I just saw Turning Red last night. This is a feel good film. It is a breath of fresh air. The scenes can be cringey but in a good way as it makes the film relatable. It is nice to see a character who is quirky but not in a "I am not like the other girls" approach. I like how her friends are supportive of her. I am glad they didn't take advantage of it. Seeing Mei simping over crushes reminds me of my teenage years except they are anime crushes. I did attend my first concert at 14 except it was Michele Buble (I went to see it with my family but it was enjoyable). Although I am not a straight A student, I do want to do well in my studies and not let my parents down. The dynamic between Mei and mom reminds me of my relationship with my mom. It sometimes can be lonely when you think you are only going through this. The fear of having part of your individuality being taken away from you is real. If anything, the portrayal of mother-daughter dynamic, conflict and generational trauma in the film feels real. Although the climax feels rushed, it made me cry. Sure we have our own disagreements but I am glad that she is supportive of me going to art school. As a Chinese I can confirm that the "you lose/ gain weight" remarks, asking you to eat more or what you are doing happens during family gatherings. And yes, they even ask you if are currently in a relationship. The vibe her aunts give reminds me of the typical Singaporean aunties I see in public. I am sure that everyone (regardless of culture) have their fair share of "auntie" moments. You should check out The Joy Luck Club. Like Turning Red and Encanto, it deals with generational trauma, Asian culture and mother-daughter relationship. Once again, I am glad that you both enjoy the film. Also, poor Devon.
I’m Colombian so I remember watching Encanto with my family in theaters, and definitely my aunts also comment on my weight, so I definitely relate to all the things you said. Encanto is actually based loosely on the book “100 years of solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I believe:)
How they didn't talk to Mei about the panda reminds me of many occasions where parents don't tell their daughters about periods Until it actually happens and you have a panicked 12-year-old. definitely needs to be talked about before it happens
If you think about it, Mei is probably the first female in generations to accept and embrace the panda (I feel like that moment with her ancestor was her saying thank you to Mei for accepting the gift) and those who meant the most to her in life (her friends) accepted her exactly as she was, with or without the panda. Of course, her family came around eventually but for some people in real life, that doesn’t happen and their friends become and are their family. It’s a great movie to create conversations for families around taboo subjects like family/generational trauma and periods/puberty. The nostalgia hit hard with this one! Lol Great reaction and insightful reaction! 😊
As an adult woman who is a New Edition superfan, I loved this movie. It made me laugh because I totally remember obsessing about my favorite member of the group and everything associated with being a 13 year old girl. What I loved even more is that you acknowledged how they were screwed over and coming back from a successful tour making $1.87 each. Love you guys!
Omg... her mother's reaction when she thought the "red flower bloomed"... I remember being very calm and whanting it to be a secret... untill my mother told my grandmother... My grandmother told my entire neighborhood so random people would come up at me on the street giving me flowers and congratulating me. I wanted to hide under a rock :)))
"He's never gonna fuck with her again" "Yeah, You'd think so? Buuuuuuuuut" "Yeah that's true." "we were both 13 year old boys once. How many other 13 year old boys were totally smart enough not to do and say stupid shit even though they had all the examples of why they shouldn't." "Yeah, that's very accurate."
i love how everyone is flipping a shit about this movie for DARING to mention periods, meanwhile when i was 9 in 2001 i watched this one episode of braceface where the maincharacter sharon getting her first period while on a date with her crush..... and i was fine. :/
The hilariously tragic irony that the same outrage towards depicting/mentioning periods in cartoons has been going on since the decade this movie was set in 😂😂🙄 - Stef
Ugh I can’t get over how much I enjoy watching you guys. It’s like funny but also laid back. Dealing with some stress lately and it’s just so nice to relax and watch your vids
There’s a theory that the mom got her panda later than usual compared to the other aunts. I thought I had more time is believable because I had a classmate that got her first period at 14.
It's funny because that line kind of threw me off. I remember thinking what do you mean you thought she had more time? She's 13. She's lucky she didn't get it earlier lol. I got my first period at 11 and believe my mom did too, but assuming she did get her period later than it would make sense why she would think she had more time. One of my mom's younger sisters didn't get hers until she was like 16.
I got it when I was 12, 2 weeks before I turned 13. My mom was 16, and her hormones went crazy after that. From a a cup to e cup, stuff like that. They did tests on her for it. It was not a great time for my mom. Makes sense Mei's mom could have been older.
I got mine when I was 15, after all of my friends (and classmates) already had theirs for a while, so it def was later than everyone else around me lol
Every single thing about this is so relatable. I 1000% felt like a gross red monster during puberty. oh god and the hormones and the crushes. it was a lot. 5SOS were the lomls at the time lmao. My mother was incredibly controlling too. Also, idk about y'all but I'm a 4-townie now. Maybe bc it was Jordan Fisher but the songs are bops! Fun fact about 4-town. Every member is based of an iconic member of real boybands. I know Taeyong is Jimin from BTS but I can't remember the rest of the top of my head. Oh and love that y'all liked how animated they were. Some guys were dissing on it say it was too much or something. Like sorry teenage girls have feelings and emotions and they're expressing them???
Yeah, I actually looked up the 4-town songs after we were finished editing 😋 We assumed a bunch of dudes would have weird problems with it. Wasn’t expecting their body language to be one of them, but I guess I’m starting to get more and more distant from bro culture. Not that I was ever really fully in it, but I’m glad for the extra distance - Sam
Honestly as a teenage girl, this movie is just perfect. As a teenage girl who likes kpop, this is even more of a perfect movie. The only thing it does wrong is make me jealous that I don't have friends like these guys that I can obsess over a boy band with (and would yknow help me through turning into a panda randomly) and to have you guys understand this film and how great it is and even to just understand teenage girl things, it makes me have faith in people again ahah. As an aussie teenage girl who likes kpop (this title is getting long now), this commentary is the most perfect way to watch this film, thank you so much for it!
The part were the mom said: “I’m never going to be good enough for her”. That part really hurts. I tried to be a good daughter but no matter what I did, I was called ugly names. My mom never trusted me. 🥺
Shoutout to you guys for mentioning ace kids. I definitely thought I had crushes growing up, but they turned out to mostly be hair envy. When I did start liking people, which felt like it came out of nowhere, I just assumed that the way I liked someone was how everyone felt. It wasn't until my mid-20s that I understood the differences.
when I realized they were doing the ritual in the stadium, and there only four ladies singing, I immediately thought, are we getting a traditional Chinese music x boyband bubble gum pop mash-up right now, cuz I'm absolutely here for it!!! that was awesome
I've been watching from the sidelines for a while now, but you gained my sub with this reaction! Loved your appreciation for the movie and its themes, you guys' general lack of toxic masculinity and weird comments or discomfort with the topics the movie deals with, like periods and teen girl crushes. And appreciated you acknowledging that people go way too hard on teenage girls specifically for no good reason. Plus you guys have a lot of interesting things to say, funny reactions and actually add something to the movie experience with your reaction. You truly seemed to understand this movie way better than many other people, judging from the criticism it's gotten. Thank you!!
I’m sorry but feather dusters are cool at any age and her appreciation of such an important part of the cleaning process brings a smile to my face, coming from the girl that asked to clean the bathroom because she enjoys scrubbing, coming from a late teens girl
While the movie does not really mirror any of my experiences (my parents have always been super supportive and trusting) I absolutely love it. Every single aspect is just amazing. 😍
And that is exactly why I think people who claim this movie is "too niche" and "only relatable to a certain demographic" are totally full of it 😊 - Stef
@48:13 In a lot of east Asian cultures 4 is considered an unlucky/ominous number, kinda like the number 13 in our culture. It's because one of the ways to write 4 is the same character used to write the word for "death". There are even buildings that when numbering the floors they skip 4.
As someone who doodled some... **embarassing** pictures in my notebooks as a kid... this movie understood me. 😂 Also, "With the power of periods" had me ROLLING!!!
I appreciate how Mei's panda had no long eyelashes or "feminine" traits like most movies do their female creatures. I know the others did, but they wore makeup by default so why wouldn't it show up in panda form.
I have this headcannon that Mei lin's mom's panda was so big because she was so repressed. Whereas Mei lin herself could be herself when she was with her friends, so her panda was the smallest.
Exactly, it's like a pressure cooker. I experimented that during my last year of High school becauseof some evenments in my life and I started to have panic attacks
This movie having a team of all women has the director, the writer, and the producer makes this 100% even more amazing! And those women being women of color on top of that is amazing! This movie felt so accurate and I just cried for Mei Mei at the end when her and her mom had their fight, cause I know I went through that with my moms and so did all of my friends! Also all of the fan girl moments with the boy band is me to this day, since I’m a kpop fan, and it’s hilarious to see that in a movie or tv show because of how utterly ridiculous it is to be that excited about these boys dancing! Btw I’m making fun of myself since I know I act like that! Not to mention the pure friendship moments these girls have through out this movie! It’s incredible and I love these characters sooooo much! Best pixiar movie ever!!!
between this, coco and encanto, the generational trauma, the culture and how relatable it is. I'm just GLOWING I'm loving it hahaha this is healing for everyone tbh. the adults and the children but some people who are offended that this is accurate need to wise up because they are part of the problem, the shame has to stop.
I've never commented on your reactions before I believe so now's as good a time as any. I think you two are lovely and your introspection and willingness to engage with your media makes you guys some of the best reactors and reviewers on RUclips. You guys genuinely improve viewing experiences because of the things you bring up-- you remind me of my friends from my old film classes in the best way. This film raised feelings I didn't know I had about my relationship with my dad. It was all heart and laughs until Mei confronted her mom's young self. Jesus Christ I'm still wiping my tears away. So now a little anecdote about me and my dad I didn't know I'd write: He and I went on similar mental health journeys 50 years apart and while he's always been supportive, his pressure on my academic and beginnings of my professional life has overshadowed so much of my path in life. He grew up with an alcoholic Korean war vet for a father and a strong-willed mother that did most of the parenting and almost no other close family. He's so smart and kind but so repressed. I always felt like I was just an over-achiever for myself but it was so much of my dad's influence being in higher education for almost 40 years now. I grew up needing to impress him and rarely experiencing failure until my mental health totally failed me in undergrad. I'm still dealing with the fallout of severe undiagnosed ADHD and depression, something I didn't know I'd basically inherited from my dad to a tee. A few years ago, when my grandmother/his mother died, I learned things about him he'd never talked about. He had no direction, worked the night audit for a decade to work through school, almost failed out of undergraduate and then graduate school, experienced the death of his father from cancer, went through a marriage and divorce, and got his PhD all from like 1975-1985. It's hard to contextualize all he went through. As a kid you just don't know all of the experiences that shaped your parents and the things they end up passing onto you. His potential disappointment has always felt so heavy in my life. It's one of the worst and most crushing feelings I've known. I'm still working through what all of that means. These realizations didn't change my love for my father, but it made that relationship for nuanced and hard to to examine. And back to the part where this movie made me think of all these things. I have felt so burnt out my the constant churn of Disney films but this was one feels like every inch was made with depth and love. It's an incredible feat when a movie can move you like that and reexamine the relationships in your own life; Inside Out was the last Disney film to do that for me.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! We appreciate all the support 😊 I read through your anecdote about your father and it was quite touching. I hope you keep working through your stuff cause mental health is a lifelong journey. Much love 😊 - Sam
I really liked this movie, more than encanto tbh. Since the movie was set in 2002, it reminded me so much of my childhood (i was 7 at that time). Having a tamagotchi and being obsessed with boybands.. those were good times 😅 And the friendship of the three girls and mei was so sweet!
Coco, Encanto, Turning Red, absolutely obsessed hope animation Studios keep the Generational Trauma theme in their movies! It's refreshing to see my own family dynamic mirrored in media not to mention wonderful to see some actually fleshed out adults and families as normally protagonist are often either orphans or the adults in their life have two minutes of screen time in total.
Fun fact (for people who don't know); all the songs that 4-Town sing are written by Billie Eilish & Her Brother, Finneas and Finneas actually voices the member Jesse. Also 4-Town were inspired by 1990s and 2000s bands like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Westlife, 98 Degrees, & O-Town and the director said that Tae-Young was inspired by Jimin (from BTS)
I really love that the moms panda was put into something she can interact with and take care of. It’s a very good visual representation on healing from childhood trauma and healing your inner child.
36:35 My thoughts too! From growing up as a preteen/teen in the flip-phone era as well (albeit a couple years later from 2002), phones breaking was a thing (not to the point that it was that often because they were expensive investments for their time, but it was definitely a way to commit a major low-blow for that time period too).
Four is unlucky in Japan (and I think Korea) too. In Japanese, the number 4 also sounds like the word for "death." If you're counting the number of people in a space, you would add "nin" (person) after each number (ichi-nin, nee-nin, san-nin, etc). When you get to four, you'd say "yon-nin" as opposed to "shi-nin" because it sounds like you're saying "dead person." Unrelated, but the number 18 in Korean (ship-pal) also sounds like "shi-pal" which is a curse word sort of equivalent to "fuck" or "shit" lol. The swear words in Korean are quite 🤌🏾exquisite. There are multiple ways to essentially say "fuck" or "fuck off" that also has pretty specific meanings.
It's so hilarious how over here in Europe nobody hates the movie and the USA is like "oh shit they mentioned periods and realistic teen behavior!! This movie is disgusting". I really love this movie because it's really overdue and relatable, even if you don't have the same cultural aspects. Wanting to share your interests with your parents and then being forced to do the exact opposite because they'll just hurt you hits home. All of us can probably relate to that. Also as an afab (assigned female at birth) person it's also cool to see periods naturally mentioned in this but then again it's crazy that we're in 2022 and this is only happening now.
Gotta love how when Mei started drawing the dude, she like sped through what should’ve been years of accumulated fanart buildup. Making up for lost time. 😂🤣😂
The amount of accuracy in this movie is insane, I can relate so much to the fanfics/fanarts, boy bands, boy crazy in general, and the rear and stress of my family and people at school and what they thought of me. It's just how the teenage phase works I guess 😂 And I like how nonchalant they are about the dirty jokes and stuff because that's really how it is in deals life, this movie is awesome and definitely a new favourite, coming from a 17 year old girl lmao It makes me a bit sad to know some people (mainly men, not all but mainly) give this movie bad ratings because it's actually a really really good movie in my opinion and when my friend first suggested it as a good movie I had no idea how much I'd actually like and appreciate it. People get upset over movies like this sometimes, but these are issues that need to be addressed. Animated movies are literally becoming so much more deep and relatable now, like Encanto, Turning Red, Coco, Luca... And because so many people revolt against Turning Red, it proves the purpose of its making in the first place. I bet you if there was an animated movie exactly like this one but from the guys' pov, there would be more girls disliking it but more guys saying it's normal. Can't both genders just be open-minded about that, because literally all of this is a normal thing that happens at that age, it's called puberty and being a teenager. It's also called, being human. Personally, I wouldn't mind an animated movie like Turning Red, but from a 13 year old boy's perspective and everything. If anything,I might actually like it. I just wish it could be the same for girls too, all in all I wish both men and women could be respected and accepted for who they are. Women can be strong, men can be emotional and soft, etc, all of these things and society projects onto us and for what. Telling us to be ourselves and then turning it's back away from you, it's pathetic and if you're someone who agrees with me I'm sure you're sick of it too. But anyways yea love this reaction, it is a good movie and it makes me happy that you guys liked it!! Sorry my comment was unreasonably long, but hey have a beautiful day/night ^^
I'm a 68-year-old black man who loves this movie. When Mr Gao first saw the red panda flying overhead, he knew exactly what had happened. Interestingly, the basic plot of Pixar's "Cars" was the same as the movie "Doc Hollywood" starring Michael J Fox. The basic plot of this Pixar movie was the same as the movie "Teen Wolf," which also starred Michael J Fox. Four is an unlucky number in China. It's also extremely unlucky to break a jade ornament, as Mei's grandmother and aunts did for her. Red is a lucky color in China, but all the women wore green, which is the opposite color on the color wheel.
“I thought I had more time” The exact words my mom said too 😭 mines happened on a school day. Thankfully I didn’t freak out at school nor did I tell the school nurse haha But I did go home crying LOL
Mei is the presenter of GenZ generation: no fear, confident and accept your trueself. Her mom, aunties and grandma are from the old generation, they had bad experiences being red panda. They think it’s not normal, a freak, they don’t accept “it” which means the shadow of themself. But Mei is different. She knows what she wants, what she needs and decide to keep “it”. She accepted her trueself.
I LOVE this reaction! also love that you pointed out boybands being totally screwed over by their management and making nothing from their work, if anyone is interested Lance bass helped produce a doc called the boy band con about Nsync and a bunch of boybands that got conned by Lou Pearlman. really interesting stuff and it will make you want to go back and listen to some nsync and backstreet boys lol
This... movie has gotten some surprisingly explosive reactions, but I goddamn love and appreciate it. A lot of people can't relate or understand how legit a lot of the family stuff is. FAMILIES ARE LIKE THAT, KIDS ARE LIKE THAT
i remember asking my mom not to call when i was on vacation with my dad. Its not that i didnt love her or didnt miss, bc i did, but i had spent the whole year with her and just wanted to feel like i was living with my dad when i got to be with him. It hurt her feelings very badly and to this day, 10+ years on, she still brings it up. Theres a great deal of others stuff too, but i think this was one of the early divits in our relationship. Things seemed to just get worse the older i got
i love how i doesnt look like a pixar movie, i wish in the furture they would mix both approaches, it would bump me not to have anything in the style we've grown up with, but i hope we'll get a mix of more traditional pixar movies and some more experimental stuff (also i wish i would someday have the chance to work with someone like the director of the movie : deeply passionate, extremely talented but not so full of herself that she cuts everyone off. she seems like a true leader)
It's funny because there's this idea of "Pixar Style" that is used to say that Turning Red is too experimental... when THE ORIGINAL PIXAR MOVIES WERE ALL EXPERIMENTAL! Toy Story, Bugs, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo! So many Pixar classics are specially made to be experimental!
I love that this talked about periods so that teenagers and adults would understand it but kids wouldn't. Love that this was mainly written/produced/directed by women. Love that it didn't take place in America. Love that it showed Asian cultures. Even had a GAYYYYYY moment!
As an asexual aromantic, obviously I can't speak for every person like me but I definitely still had crushes on bands as a kid haha :) again, not every ace/aro would but I was so happy that you guys mentioned it as a valid sexuality. Thanks for making my week
You guys are so kind and insightful, appreciating your reactions to things, especially to this. Hearing you relate and empathize to the characters was so fulfilling. Cheers!
This was such a funny and also deep movie and so different from anything that has been done before. There is also a documentary on it, where the creators talk about how it was made and I found that inspiring, cause the woman who wrote the story is the character in it, it's her own story and the project was super personal to her.
I'd really like to see that. The fact that it's based on someone's lived experience makes it even funnier that some people are honestly claiming that "teenage girls don't act like that" 😂 - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 For people who claim that, I honestly feel sorry for them, cause they either never allowed themselves to feel any real emotions, or are too afraid to admit they did. That's what is so amazing about teenage years, you're so much more free. Then you become an adult and you're expected to just put a leaf on and hide behind a tree like everyone else, so to speak, and be ashamed of your every breath.
We recently hired a new co-editor to help out with the videos so hopefully we'll be back to releasing videos every week very soon!
Also, I'm still in Poland and occasionally posting updates on my IG. Thanks for all the love and support! - Sam
Live channel: ruclips.net/channel/UClLU6EveVOrcfRJKvbINJ9Q
Instagrams: @stefanwolf_tmb @samlanemusic
Discord server: discord.gg/GgWp3JzVFV
Yes
Didn’t see the upload! Congrats on the new editor and hope your doing good!
Best wishes to Maria and family. Hope they are doing ok. So glad you are able to be with her Sam and kudos to you for carrying on filming. Please know that it would be ok to take a break though. Shout out to Stef as well. This is a fab channel. You two have both nuanced insight and a fab sense of humor. Watching movies with you guys is great. Take care, love from you UK x
Oh my gosh I had no idea! I wish you and those you're with the best. Stay safe, Sam! ❤
If you guys are talking about boy bands and pop, you guys should react to The Cheetah Girls.
Seeing two men so thoroughly understand what this movie means for women, and what growing up can tend to be like for girls, is so refreshing, and so gratifying, that I can’t really put it into words. Thank you for this reaction, and I’m so glad you loved this movie. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride of a film for me, and I completely agree with you that this movie is an important cinematic milestone.
I also definitely agree that people saying the amount of teenage girl rebellion and lust in this movie, plus subjects like periods and “cleaning your petals” is “inappropriate for young ladies” despite it being so.. not only normal but completely necessary to talk about, proves exactly why this movie needed to be made.
Thanks bud, glad you enjoyed our take 😄 It's so silly (but sadly not surprising) that so many people are just mad at the accuracy - Stef
Seriously I love it. Waaaayyy to many men(mainly white for some reason) hate this movie saying they can't understand it but I'm just like it's not that hard to comprehend is it?
Some people are saying that the awkwardness of adolescence/puberty is too mature for Pixar audiences? Seriously, some people need to get over themselves. Some Disney movies out there are way too inappropriate for kids if you think about it.
@@madeleinereads I know, right??? Like, they clearly haven't seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame! Or even just seen "Hellfire" from the same movie! There is some seriously creepy stuff in some Disney movies, like Gaston wanting to basically own Belle, or Jafar being a perv to Jasmine, who's barely 16 years old, or Prince Hans wanting to kill Anna and Elsa to get to the throne and nearly getting away with it? Or heck, Clayton dying by hanging in Tarzan, and we see the shadow of his body? Some people need to pay closer attention before deciding that animation is just for kids and can't have dark content or important lessons in it. Say it with me: "Animation is NOT a genre!"
@@aliyahpulido953 Or the princes in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty kissing them while they are unconscious.
I really loved how supportive Mei's friends were after learning her secret. They stuck by her the entire time, and even let Tyler into their group afterwards. Such a pure friendship. ❣️
Very much agreed! - Sam
So much better than Penny Proud's so-called "friends."
I want those freinds :(
@@keshiaanders6452 Chile…..Penny needs to take notes 😭.
I like how Tyler became a real friend. Maybe trying to hide it made him a jerk.
I totally agree with you guys! I think a lot of the anger that abused parents have with their children rebelling is because of the pain that comes from jealousy. You see your child doing exactly what you always wanted and it fills you with jealousy because you wish you had the courage. It's almost as if your child's rebellion is living proof that you could have had a different life and missed it.
Sad but true for so many. But at least it's being addressed in more media - Stef
Rage is a fuel that burns quickly.
you're making me get a new perspective on my parents behavior that they 100% do not deserve from me
obsessed with generational trauma and the pressures of upward mobility being a real driving force for plot in so many kids movies as of late. mei meeting her mom’s hurt inner child was a legendary scene for me
I totally hear you. Getting more stories about healing I think has been really great 😊 - Sam
@@themoviebud1988 yes! And great vid as always guys, missed y’all!
Me too.
@@jenthejen can you give me an example of pressures of upward mobility and generational trauma being a driving force in other kids movies plots? I would like to know what they are.
@@MrGamelover23 encanto is the only one i can think lately 🤔
I think the scene in the bamboo forest is so interesting, because Ming was wearing an uniform so we can assume that traumatic episode took place qhen she was so young, and Meimei leads her through the forest and we can see that her mom has been carrying those feelings her whole life. She never had the support group her daughter has.
And it is really nice that Meimei can break the cycle and make the decision to live her life differently at such a young age.
And since MeiMeis mom thought MeiMei transformed too soon, it would make sense why her mom is in a school uniform. I assumed high school, and I enjoyed that scene a lot :)
The fact that Sandra Oh worked on this and the fact that it’s a first for an Asian-Canadian protagonist and a great crew who are not mere tokens but can tell a story on their own and are claiming the Asian Excellence we’ve been deprived of in the media makes my heart happy ♥️
Damn straight! - Sam
@@themoviebud1988 Sending a 🙌🏽 Asian to Asian.
A shame that Sandra Oh's other film 'Umma' is being ignored. I haven't heard about it except seeing it in the theater showtimes in my state and on Good Morning America.
“Menstruation is the only blood not born from violence, yet it’s the one that disgusts you the most.”
- Maia Schwartz
It was disappointing to see some reviews for this film suggest Turning Red to be appropriate, or not suitable due to its themes about menstruation. With it being about puberty, especially for girls, so many young women found comfort and relatability in it. Turning red is a film with its own quirks and scuffs, and I for one enjoyed watching something that accurately shows what puberty is like for some girls. I’m glad it’s getting positive feedback as well, along with constructive criticism. My only wish is that 4 Town would be an actual boy band! 🎶
So... you're just going to ignore that _Braceface_ had a period episode? And maybe don't let random Internet bozos bog you down.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster That’s assuming they know what that is and it’s more than just random internet trolls. Sadly one ep of a show doesn’t stop others from censors and shaming people for having a period, nor fixing other issues.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster shut up
Well, it's not... like I get random nosebleeds all the time. But I get the message.
There was a review from a Karen mom saying that they had to explain to their 12 year old sons what ''red peony bloom'' meant.
This movie really resonated with me with how it handled a teen girl discovering attraction and sexuality. I was lucky for the whole period thing as my mum had prepared me plenty beforehand. But the amount of extreme shame and guilt I felt for being really passionate about something, or being attracted to someone or feeling horny as a young teen really messed with my head for years.
Oof, unlike me. I thought I was gonna die or have to go to the ER because my mom expected me to go one more year without my period 😭
My sister was ready though and wasn't shocked, because I've talked about it before nonchalantly in front of her so she already knew when it happened 😂
But yea teenage girls are teenage girls, I mean what're you gonna do?? Some guys act like this is a bad movie just because it was aimed more for the female audience and addresses female teenage things. I'm sure they wouldn't think that way if it was the male side of things.
@@Glitchyybean Damn, sorry you had to go through that. I can absolutely believe that you'd think you are dying if you had no idea about periods and then just started bleeding randomly. Along with cramps too... ugh.
My mum hadn't been told by _her_ mum, so she made sure she told me what was going to happen a couple years in advance.
the fanart and sexual awakening made me holler lmao
I love how this movie shows seriously positive and healthy friendships. Yes, her friends embrace her for who she is, but they also embrace Tyler for liking 4-Town (and who he is). I'm happy for my son to watch this movie to see support and what to aspire to as a friend.
For real though. I love how much this movie can teach adults and kids alike - Stef
So real how horrifying it felt to tell my mom I didn’t want her to come with me and my friends to the mall for the first time. They really captured the guilt that comes with trying to healthily break away a little bit from parents.
Parents just need to understand that their kids are growing and becoming more themselves, more autonomous. It's scary to break away when you've taken care of them their whole childhood, but it's a huge opportunity for them to truly be independent.
I can't relate on a personal level since my mum assumed pretty early on that as a young boy I wouldn't want her hanging with me and my friends, but I agree; they really captured the moment so effectively that even an outsider like myself can feel it - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 agreeeeeed. They’re not shy about the fact that this movie is very specific to teenage girls, (hence the backlash 🥲) but with universal preteen experience woven in. I think another aspect specific to young girls is depicted early in the film. The emphasis on young girls crushing on fictional boys (boy bands, fictional characters etc.) is very common because of the combination of lingering innocence and boys like Tyler lol. 13 year old female hormones zero in on that dream fictional boy instead of real life boys 100%. Crushes for girls often originate in fantasy world because real life boys are going through their own version of puberty and do not meet the high standard of what girls are taught to expect from a “boyfriend”. I remember being terrified of real life boys at that age lol. It causes girls to channel all that puberty energy into fictional or older boys (like that poor bastard at the Daisy Mart 😂). Another thing I appreciate about this movie is the emphasis on the strain that puberty puts on the mother/daughter dynamic. It’s really difficult to navigate on both sides. You have to make a child who feels like an adult feel validated, and also kind of maintain that protective nature because they’re still a kid. Girls are also highly emotional at this point and don’t want to hurt their mom’s feelings. It was spot on to mention the nuance that you guys recognized during your watch. It feels even worse to tell your mom you don’t want her around right now when she’s been a mum like Ming. Obviously overbearing, but very attentive and nurturing at the same time 🥲 As a young mom to a daughter myself, I really identified with both Mei and Ming. I’d definitely encourage anyone to revisit this movie after they have kids ❤️ definitely made me cry multiple times because of my new parental perspective lol
As an Asian-Canadian who has a really strict mom, this movie reallyyyyy hit hard for me. You guys spotted that the grandma was even more strict than the mom, which really struck me the second time I watched this movie. Like Mei-Lin’s mom, my mom never realized that she was controlling because she saw herself as “more lenient” than HER mother, so when I was unhappy or didn’t do what she liked, then it was never because of her. It was always my fault or someone else’s “bad influence”.
Watching this movie made me cry because it makes me wish I tried to have this conversation with my mom when I was younger, instead of “locking away the panda” and dealing with the built-up psychological repercussions later in life. Still, I’m happy because I think this movie teaches a really good message to both children AND parents
Loved this film so much, I just loved the casual inclusion of sanitary products. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pads in a kids film before... and thinking about it, I haven’t seen them in many adult films either. This is an exciting moment.
Should be normal but sadly so many people still get weird about that stuff. At least things are changing 😊 - Sam
You probably haven't watched the movies yet, then.
You serious? I mean, yeah, *kids’* movies don’t talk about sanitary products much, because parents don’t want their kids learning about the reproductive system (male or female), but adult movies? Bruh, I learned about tampons from the movie _Black Balloon_ .
@@moonlitskylight5740 Ah, yes, the floor here is made of floor
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster that’s brilliant that they were included in that film. I’m not saying they aren’t included ever, I’m just saying I haven’t seen them included in many.
when you think about the idea that Ming's panda was so big because she was so largely repressed that it manifested into a gigantic panda, it makes you feel so sorry for her and also makes you understand why she treated MeiLin the way she did. I'm so glad you guys reacted to this one because I knew you'd get it immediately and I was not disappointed. ❤️
Thanks bud! Yeah, I think Ming is probably one of the best examples of a sympathetic antagonist I've ever seen in any medium. Truly ten out of ten - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 46:42 i really don't think we should condone violene. He's a jerk but hitting someone never makes you look better. It's makes you just as bad.
People who say this movie is about "vaginas and periods" are just stupid honestly and didn't pay attention. It's about growing up, learning to be your on person and the relationships you have with your family, friends and crushes as you grow up. All these grown adults complaining are awful parents and I honestly hope it was generated buzz to get people to watch it
Yeah, it's a pretty reductionary take in my opinion - Stef
Just think about the fact, that a topic like periods - which literally exist, since women exist - (without them there would litterally be no human kind!) is still soo taboo in our "cultured" society that it just now got turned into a children's movie and still gets flag for it. Just shows how waaaaay behind we still are.
Men’s reproductive functions are taboo as well. Last time I checked, I don’t think we ever saw Andy’s cum-stained T-shirts in _Toy Story 3_ .
And that's exactly why I think it's such an important movie. The backlash from some people only proves how desperately we need more stories like this one to promote healthy, open discussions about sex and our bodies - Stef
I'm really happy y'all liked this movie. Yeah, unfortunately, I think it got a lot of weird pushback when it came out, The same way there was weird pushback when Brave (2012) came out. I'm happy to see more people appreciating Brave and I feel this movie is going to be remembered so well. Mei and her friends really capture being 13-year-old girls, including the mermaid obsession phase. I also liked how Mei didn't really care about being popular or not, she just wanted to spend time with her friends and enjoy their favorite things together. Like, I'm not saying that peer pressure and desiring for popularity aren't things that happen to teenage girls but there's so many ways to represent teen girl experiences.
Agreed, great to see people appreciating stories told from a woman's perspective (even though Brave sadly got a bit botched thanks to corporate meddling). I know what you mean with the whole popularity thing. It's nice that they didn't fall into a lot of those overused tropes. On a similar note I like how Mei and her friends were a bit boy crazy but the boys were never the focus of the story - it was firmly about Mei and her personal relationships with her friends and family, rather than trying to squeeze in a romantic subplot - Stef
I have literally watched this movie about 34 to 40 times because it's literally so unbelievably accurate to my experience and i cry everytime haha, so glad you reacted to this and i really wish this had a theatre release
Damn dude, respect! Such a great movie 😁 - Sam
I'm on my 6th watch and it's getting better. I try to watch a different character each time.
I do Cry everytime too… me and my mother
Same here. The movie just so full of details that make a rewatch so much better
Could you imagine the sheer amount of overbearing parents that would talk their child's ears of after though? I already heard about some people's parents complaining about the movie saying stuff like "this is teaching my child to misbehave/disobey me!"
The Incredibles: Subtle adult jokes, wife suspecting that her husband is committing adultery, death scenes, an attempted suicide and a villain committing genocide.
Audience: .....
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Frollo attempting to kill a baby and lusting over Esmeralda. Include serious topics such as using religion under the guise of discriminating the gypsies.
Audience: .....
Turning Red: A 13 year old Chinese Canadian doing cringy things. For example: doodling a drawing of her crush which realistically portrays the behaviour of a young teenager. Also mentions periods.
(Some) Audience: NOT MY SHOW!!!🤯
People, especially American conservatives, are so strange.
@@grawxxor2820 exactly
well im from france and here everyone likes this movie lol
Right!? The double standards are real... - Stef
Exactly. Nobody seemed to mind the "and got BIZZAY" line...
This movie was so therapeutic to watch as someone, who has almost exactly this relationship with their mom (and she has it with her mom). When Ming says "If I taught you that, I'm sorry", it hits me so hard.
With this and Luca I'm so excited to see what's next for Pixar
I loved how deeply you guys understood the movie despite not relating to the culture and the exact experience of a teenage girl! It's nice to see people understand the mom's side as well, since I see a lot of people just start to hate her once the Devon scene happens. She is so HUMAN, so flawed and complex unlike a lot of parents in movies who are either basic loving parents or straight up abusive. It's a lot more complicated in real life, and more common. This movie hit me directly since I also speak Cantonese and besides my family running a temple, I had a childhood extremely similar to hers.
Anyways, loved this video! Also btw yes, "four" is considered unlucky because the word for "four" also sounds like the word for "death" in Cantonese.
Thanks bud! Glad you liked the reaction. I don't get how anyone could hate Ming's character. Kinda seems like they missed the point of the story. I definitely didn't have the same childhood as you or Mei but I can definitely understand the intergenerational trauma aspect and I love how they framed that in such a universally human way while still being faithful to the characters' cultrural heritage - Stef
I love that Ming was still a child in the spiritual realm because it represents she was still stuck blaming herself for hurting her mom. That moment probably affected her mental state during the rest of her life, and she wasn't able to grow up from that until her own daughter shows her empathy and compassion. It also shows that they're finally able to connect in a more personal level because Ming sees Mei as an equal in that moment. She's her own person, not only a kid that depends on her constantly, and not a reflection of her as a mother. The moment she accepts this and realizes Mei is as independent as she was at that age, she's finally able to understand her. Another detail I think it's really cool is Mings panda being sealed in the Tamagochi. Yes, she gave up the panda, but she can still interact with it. It goes to show she's in touch with her emotions in a way she wasn't before. She's dealing with her own trauma in a different way that Mei, but it's still a step forward. Again, she's growing up.
When they are explaining the whole Sun yee transformation they did explained that the way it works is that the gods let her use her emotions to become panda, so you are absolutely right and it's possible that Meilin's mom had A LOT of anger and issues that manifested on her panda when she was older than Meilin.
Considering how comfortable some of her sisters were to criticize her and blame her for Meilin running away, I can see them also being a contributing factor.
For real. Ming had so much repressed anger she put the hulk to shame - Stef
I know this comment was 2 years ago, but I just wanted to add because it's one of the things that amuses me most, notice how ready her sisters and mom were to nag at her and just how quickly they switched up the split second they realized her panda was coming out. The looks on their faces in that one moment never fail to make me laugh. Got some real 'oh shit, quiet one is going loud' energy to it.
The cooking scene with the dad in this movie gets me hungry everytime. I love this pixar animator flexing their skills.
Lol I went out and bought Chinese food the following day after I watched this movie 😂😅
Every time I rewatch the movie or clips from it and the cooking scene appears, all I can do is yell, *”You made it this real for WHAT THO?”* 😂
@@niyaodom1944 They be flexin on us normies hella hard
I really do think that this movie was LONG OVERDUE. So many scenes that never were in a blockbuster before.
Oh yeah, very much overdue. Glad we got here tho 😊 - Sam
The post credit scene was the dad becoming a 4-townie. It was really cute!
Or... was hesecretly a 4-Townie all along!? 😳 hahaha 😄 - Stef
Huh. I didn't know there's a post credit scene.
it's taken me so long to acknowledge actions like that as abuse and even now I still hesitate to call it abuse so hearing you guys blatantly call it that is refreshing. when talking about abuse people rarely ever look at this side of it and I feel guilty for labeling this as abuse, I go through the feeling of "well they don't hit me or anything like that so I'm fine and i shouldn't complain"
100% same.
And the ones who *were* hit say they probably deserved it (they don't remember), and it probably made them better (they're doing it to their own kids), it's good to brag because it makes "poc" families look better (it doesn't), and we can all joke about it (that's if you like dark humor), so it's totally fine :))
Emotional abuse is very much a thing, and while I've never been abused, I can understand it's hard to admit your family (who's supposed to protect you) can do such a thing. I think there is some generational trauma in my family, although not to this degree and we have solved things out. But yeah, admiting to yourself that you've been abused, especially by the people closest to you, is hard.
It's a process and I hope you can work through your emotions safely.
I know what you mean. The thing to remember is that there's always "someone who has it worse" and they in turn are downplaying the abuse they receive. I myself was verbally and physically abused, but I always convinced myself it was fine because it was only ever open palm, even when my lip got busted open, because "that's just how Italian parents are, right? at least it wasn't a punch, right?" The guilt is a coping mechanism - blaming yourself is easier than coming to terms with the fact that someone you love could hurt you like that. It's not always easy to remember, but that doesn't make your experience any less valid. Mindfulness is a skill and not easy to learn, but as long as you keep at it, you'll start healing - Stef
I love how modern films try to show the generational trauma in a family. As a teen growing up with a strict Asian parents, I relate to this film a lot, specially the whole friendship dynamic where I felt more comfortable and happy with my friends than my family.
Btw, here's just how many period jokes there actually were:
Gross red monster.
The way she's walking stiffly when she's in her bedroom? I can confirm that's how we walk when we're trying not to move too much to prevent...an "accident".
"Prevent any accidents."
Curling up in the fetal position because it hurts.
You can even make a case for the extreme emotions thing, cause a lot of us can attest that extreme emotions tend to make it...worse, let's say.
And the friends neutralizing the panda? A way to show that having friends around to help you through it when you have an "accident" can make it less embarrassing.
The other girls not being scared of the panda bc there's a kind of kinship that's formed when you're all going through the same thing. I've had girls I don't know tell me I've got a spot and I'll love them forever/lh
A few more I found were referring to herself as a gross red monster, the falling into the wall, running crying inside was very relatable to period pain 🤣 and my favorite subtle one is the hiding of the tail in the hallway, I was always worried about it coming through my clothes
I'd also like to add sneezing, laughing etc. being horrible bc you know. And her touching her belly when she first changed because it usually gets bloated.
The panda is not really a metaphor for periods, you know that, right? Lol
@@thisishowitallends9321 the director and co writer have publically confirmed this theory that it's an analogy for puberty, which periods are apart of
After watching Turning Red I was hoping you would react to it. I absolutely adore this movie, I love the dynamic of her friend group and how super supportive they are. The whole depiction of that akward teenager phase, getting your first period, fangirling over artists and stuff was just super relatable and made me feel kinda nostalgic. And while I couldn't personally relate to all aspects of the intergenerational trauma storyline, I do relate to some parts of it like wanting my parents approval, not speaking up when I thought they were in the wrong because I was afraid I might hurt their feelings etc. And while me and my parents are actually really close and I usually confide to them a lot of the stuff thats going on in my life it kinda made me realise that that is something we never really talked about. The heart to heart between Mei and her Mom really got to me at the end. And "Nobody like you" is still stuck in my head, so that's pretty amazing :D
Yeah, it's so funny to me there are actually people out there claiming this movie is "unrelatable" and only appeals to a "niche demographic" when it does such a good job of communicating it's messages in a way that doesn't require first hand experience to understand - Stef
Even though it was a brief moment in your reaction, I loved hearing you acknowledge that ace and aromantic people exist, especially since it runs so counter to most experiences of growing up in the traditional sense of crushes and the like. Just wanted to say thank you!
No worries, we try to be as informed as we can 😊 - Sam
One thing I like, that I didn't think of until watching the movie a second time, was that they didn't make Tyler into the archetype of "being mean to you means he likes you/has a crush on you." He was just genuinely a jerk who turned out to have something in common with Mei, and both of them let bygones be bygones when they discovered they had the same interests. No secret crushes, no forced friendships. They genuinely learned to like each other as friends. I appreciate that, because the whole being mean=crush thing was something I was always told as a kid that annoyed me.
Though I do wonder how his parents feel about his friendship with her, considering she attacked him, lol.
Absolutely! It didn’t occur to me while watching but it’s such a great detail *chef’s kiss* - Stef
I had a friend who posted on facebook that they hated the movie and really criticized it and didn't understand it at all. After I watched it, I let them know how accurate it was with the intergenerational trauma and the chinese mom and embarrassment of teenage hormones. They said they didn't agree with the parenting in the movie and thus hated it...
Man... that sounds pretty narrow minded. Oh well, at least you tried to help them understand it better - Stef
I remember me and my BFF going to the No Strings Attached NSYNC tour, touching JC Chasez's hand and pretty much hyperventilated. Preteen girls are wild! Representation needed!!!
All us girls were THIRSTY asses.
Jesus Christ! Good think I didn't go to concert.🤷🏿♂️
Did the same with the Jonas Brothers, nothing changed haha
That first concert felt like it changed my life
At first I was like $200 a ticket seems fair, for a big-name group...I think.
Then I asked my Aunt, who bought me and my cousin tickets to see Backstreet Boys during their Millennium tour in 1999.
$95 bucks
WOW! no wonder Mei's mom was like "HAHAHA no. "
People have always been critical of teen girls. And women too. From twilight, to one direction, to makeup! Everything girls and women are stereotypically supposed to like people bash it! And if the girls say oh I’m into gaming you’re only doing it for guy’s attention! It’s honestly upsetting! ....
This! Also... it seems like loads of stuff with a female lead or that touches on female issues are dismissed as something ‘just for girls’, a ‘chick flick’.
I agree with all of that except the Twilight part considering how harmful that franchise was and is. Nothing to do with it being aimed at girls/women. The relationship dynamics were super bad - Sam
@@themoviebud1988 super good point! I just remember girls getting bullied for reading the books. That franchise is harmful, completely agree!
@@themoviebud1988As a girl who grew up during the Twilight era and was obsessed along with all of my friends, I'm going to ask you re-evaluate your comment. Getting swept up in the craze was a lot of fun as a teen at the time, problematic relationships aside. Not a single one of us grew up thinking that being stalked or co-dependant is sexy. We aren't damaged or confused about what makes a healthy relationship just because we loved Twilight. Have you met or heard of any adult women (remember Twilight fans are now in their late 20s and 30s) who blame their relationship struggles on Twilight? I think your comment is fear mongering and adults (an adult man may I point out) once again judging the things teen girls have liked and deciding on our behalf that it's dangerous for us. As though teenagers and women can't tell apart fiction and reality by themselves. Twilight deserves a lot of flack, but to call it 'harmful' is a stretch. We girls largely look back and cringe or laugh.
To say Twilight is harmful to girls is like saying video games are harmful to boys. "Men, and especially teen boys, shouldn't be allowed to play violent shooting games because they'll grow up violent and wanting to kill real people." Debunked nonsense. Does anyone sit around and critisize how the oversexualization of many female characters in video games could be impacting teen boys? I've not seen it. Show me the real life women harmed by Twilight. I've not seen it.
I once heard someone say, "Gay men love women more than straight men do" and omg that is so true...the only thing people enjoy about women is what we have to offer..aslong as it's not their daughters, sisters, or mothers, doing offering it. (I'm referring to sex)
I love that Mom was ready with ibuprofen and everything else, multiple kinds of pads, because being a woman is ROUGH! That was lovely.
oh my god, now that you guys bring it up, the cages 4Town drop down probably ARE a reference to NSYNC's No Strings Attached tour in the year 2000, they opened the show coming down on "puppet strings" and they detached from them to represent their freedom from their previous management, oh that is actually GOLD
You're right, that's bloody amazing. Love the amount of thought that went into this movie ☺️ - Stef
i love that you mentioned mabel!! both gravity falls and this movie accurately depict the thoughts, actions, and experiences of 12/13 year old girls and it seems like the people who have issues with the characters/storylines have never met a 12/13 year old girl before 😂
It's literally the only explanation that makes sense 😆🙄 - Stef
I think one of the best indicators of how well done this movie is is how every plot hole or question got answered. Even something you’d think was silly, or a “kids movie” would brush off was addressed(usually with a clever joke). You could tell how much effort and care went into this, and I’m glad there are people who appreciate it fully!! 💕
idk if you noticed, but she called the panda statues outside Bart and Lisa, after the Simpsons.
Actually missed the Simpsons part but it seems so obvious now that you bring it up lol - Sam
I love how the mom (voiced by Sandra oh) looks exactly like Sandra in real life and does the exact same facial and hand motions as she does in her regular acting.
The yearning I felt the first time I saw the scene with young Ming is more than I can put into words. I can't even imagine being able to comfort a younger version of my mom, who has gone through so much and is such a strong person both because of and in spite of everything she's dealt with. I bet it was pretty therapeutic for some of the animators as well (so many of us have soft spots for our stronger-than-anything mothers). While it can't be replicated in real life, seeing that comfort visually represented was incredibly moving.
I just saw Turning Red last night. This is a feel good film. It is a breath of fresh air. The scenes can be cringey but in a good way
as it makes the film relatable. It is nice to see a character who is quirky but not in a "I am not like the other girls" approach. I like how her friends are supportive of her. I am glad they didn't take advantage of it. Seeing Mei simping over crushes reminds me of my teenage years except they are anime crushes. I did attend my first concert at 14 except it was Michele Buble (I went to see it with my family but it was enjoyable).
Although I am not a straight A student, I do want to do well in my studies and not let my parents down. The dynamic between Mei and mom reminds me of my relationship with my mom. It sometimes can be lonely when you think you are only going through this. The fear of having part of your individuality being taken away from you is real. If anything, the portrayal of mother-daughter dynamic, conflict and generational trauma in the film feels real. Although the climax feels rushed, it made me cry. Sure we have our own disagreements but I am glad that she is supportive of me going to art school.
As a Chinese I can confirm that the "you lose/ gain weight" remarks, asking you to eat more or what you are doing happens during family gatherings. And yes, they even ask you if are currently in a relationship. The vibe her aunts give reminds me of the typical Singaporean aunties I see in public. I am sure that everyone (regardless of culture) have their fair share of "auntie" moments.
You should check out The Joy Luck Club. Like Turning Red and Encanto, it deals with generational trauma, Asian culture and mother-daughter relationship.
Once again, I am glad that you both enjoy the film. Also, poor Devon.
I’m Colombian so I remember watching Encanto with my family in theaters, and definitely my aunts also comment on my weight, so I definitely relate to all the things you said. Encanto is actually based loosely on the book “100 years of solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I believe:)
Very much agreed. Also glad to hear your mum supports your dreams 😊 - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 Thanks:)
How they didn't talk to Mei about the panda reminds me of many occasions where parents don't tell their daughters about periods Until it actually happens and you have a panicked 12-year-old. definitely needs to be talked about before it happens
If you think about it, Mei is probably the first female in generations to accept and embrace the panda (I feel like that moment with her ancestor was her saying thank you to Mei for accepting the gift) and those who meant the most to her in life (her friends) accepted her exactly as she was, with or without the panda. Of course, her family came around eventually but for some people in real life, that doesn’t happen and their friends become and are their family. It’s a great movie to create conversations for families around taboo subjects like family/generational trauma and periods/puberty. The nostalgia hit hard with this one! Lol Great reaction and insightful reaction! 😊
As an adult woman who is a New Edition superfan, I loved this movie. It made me laugh because I totally remember obsessing about my favorite member of the group and everything associated with being a 13 year old girl. What I loved even more is that you acknowledged how they were screwed over and coming back from a successful tour making $1.87 each. Love you guys!
Thanks so much! Also thanks for the correction about their pitiful pay cause I couldn’t quite recall at the time 😊 - Sam
Omg... her mother's reaction when she thought the "red flower bloomed"... I remember being very calm and whanting it to be a secret... untill my mother told my grandmother... My grandmother told my entire neighborhood so random people would come up at me on the street giving me flowers and congratulating me. I wanted to hide under a rock :)))
"He's never gonna fuck with her again"
"Yeah, You'd think so? Buuuuuuuuut"
"Yeah that's true."
"we were both 13 year old boys once. How many other 13 year old boys were totally smart enough not to do and say stupid shit even though they had all the examples of why they shouldn't."
"Yeah, that's very accurate."
i love how everyone is flipping a shit about this movie for DARING to mention periods, meanwhile when i was 9 in 2001 i watched this one episode of braceface where the maincharacter sharon getting her first period while on a date with her crush..... and i was fine. :/
Oh my god I remeber that!
The hilariously tragic irony that the same outrage towards depicting/mentioning periods in cartoons has been going on since the decade this movie was set in 😂😂🙄 - Stef
Something I've just noticed. When Ming is yelling at the girls she is only really looking at Miriam. Almost as if she only sees Miriam as the problem.
Ugh I can’t get over how much I enjoy watching you guys. It’s like funny but also laid back. Dealing with some stress lately and it’s just so nice to relax and watch your vids
Thanks so much! Glad we could help you unwind a bit 😊 - Sam
There’s a theory that the mom got her panda later than usual compared to the other aunts. I thought I had more time is believable because I had a classmate that got her first period at 14.
It's funny because that line kind of threw me off. I remember thinking what do you mean you thought she had more time? She's 13. She's lucky she didn't get it earlier lol. I got my first period at 11 and believe my mom did too, but assuming she did get her period later than it would make sense why she would think she had more time. One of my mom's younger sisters didn't get hers until she was like 16.
I got it when I was 12, 2 weeks before I turned 13. My mom was 16, and her hormones went crazy after that. From a a cup to e cup, stuff like that. They did tests on her for it. It was not a great time for my mom. Makes sense Mei's mom could have been older.
I got mine when I was 15, after all of my friends (and classmates) already had theirs for a while, so it def was later than everyone else around me lol
Every single thing about this is so relatable. I 1000% felt like a gross red monster during puberty. oh god and the hormones and the crushes. it was a lot. 5SOS were the lomls at the time lmao. My mother was incredibly controlling too. Also, idk about y'all but I'm a 4-townie now. Maybe bc it was Jordan Fisher but the songs are bops! Fun fact about 4-town. Every member is based of an iconic member of real boybands. I know Taeyong is Jimin from BTS but I can't remember the rest of the top of my head. Oh and love that y'all liked how animated they were. Some guys were dissing on it say it was too much or something. Like sorry teenage girls have feelings and emotions and they're expressing them???
as a 5sos fan i related too hard to the "why are they called 4town if there are 5 of them"
omg I remember going with my friends in 8th to a 5SOS concert and it was my first concert ever lol
Yeah, I actually looked up the 4-town songs after we were finished editing 😋
We assumed a bunch of dudes would have weird problems with it. Wasn’t expecting their body language to be one of them, but I guess I’m starting to get more and more distant from bro culture. Not that I was ever really fully in it, but I’m glad for the extra distance - Sam
Honestly as a teenage girl, this movie is just perfect. As a teenage girl who likes kpop, this is even more of a perfect movie. The only thing it does wrong is make me jealous that I don't have friends like these guys that I can obsess over a boy band with (and would yknow help me through turning into a panda randomly) and to have you guys understand this film and how great it is and even to just understand teenage girl things, it makes me have faith in people again ahah. As an aussie teenage girl who likes kpop (this title is getting long now), this commentary is the most perfect way to watch this film, thank you so much for it!
The part were the mom said: “I’m never going to be good enough for her”. That part really hurts. I tried to be a good daughter but no matter what I did, I was called ugly names. My mom never trusted me. 🥺
I’m so sorry…. You didn’t deserve that at all 😢
Shoutout to you guys for mentioning ace kids. I definitely thought I had crushes growing up, but they turned out to mostly be hair envy. When I did start liking people, which felt like it came out of nowhere, I just assumed that the way I liked someone was how everyone felt. It wasn't until my mid-20s that I understood the differences.
come on! The kitten box test is outright CHEATING. Nobody could resist it! Kittens don't play by the rules!
Wait, what?
when I realized they were doing the ritual in the stadium, and there only four ladies singing, I immediately thought, are we getting a traditional Chinese music x boyband bubble gum pop mash-up right now, cuz I'm absolutely here for it!!! that was awesome
I've been watching from the sidelines for a while now, but you gained my sub with this reaction! Loved your appreciation for the movie and its themes, you guys' general lack of toxic masculinity and weird comments or discomfort with the topics the movie deals with, like periods and teen girl crushes. And appreciated you acknowledging that people go way too hard on teenage girls specifically for no good reason. Plus you guys have a lot of interesting things to say, funny reactions and actually add something to the movie experience with your reaction. You truly seemed to understand this movie way better than many other people, judging from the criticism it's gotten. Thank you!!
Aww thanks, bud! We really appreciate all the love ☺️🙌 - Stef
I’m sorry but feather dusters are cool at any age and her appreciation of such an important part of the cleaning process brings a smile to my face, coming from the girl that asked to clean the bathroom because she enjoys scrubbing, coming from a late teens girl
While the movie does not really mirror any of my experiences (my parents have always been super supportive and trusting) I absolutely love it. Every single aspect is just amazing. 😍
And that is exactly why I think people who claim this movie is "too niche" and "only relatable to a certain demographic" are totally full of it 😊 - Stef
@48:13 In a lot of east Asian cultures 4 is considered an unlucky/ominous number, kinda like the number 13 in our culture. It's because one of the ways to write 4 is the same character used to write the word for "death". There are even buildings that when numbering the floors they skip 4.
As someone who doodled some... **embarassing** pictures in my notebooks as a kid... this movie understood me. 😂
Also, "With the power of periods" had me ROLLING!!!
I appreciate how Mei's panda had no long eyelashes or "feminine" traits like most movies do their female creatures. I know the others did, but they wore makeup by default so why wouldn't it show up in panda form.
When her mom went to the Daisy Mart and showed Devon the drawings you guys had the exact same reaction as I did 😂😂
Such a great movie! I went to a One Direction concert when I was about the same age, and that crying was 100% accurate lmao
I have this headcannon that Mei lin's mom's panda was so big because she was so repressed. Whereas Mei lin herself could be herself when she was with her friends, so her panda was the smallest.
Exactly, it's like a pressure cooker. I experimented that during my last year of High school becauseof some evenments in my life and I started to have panic attacks
This movie having a team of all women has the director, the writer, and the producer makes this 100% even more amazing! And those women being women of color on top of that is amazing! This movie felt so accurate and I just cried for Mei Mei at the end when her and her mom had their fight, cause I know I went through that with my moms and so did all of my friends! Also all of the fan girl moments with the boy band is me to this day, since I’m a kpop fan, and it’s hilarious to see that in a movie or tv show because of how utterly ridiculous it is to be that excited about these boys dancing! Btw I’m making fun of myself since I know I act like that! Not to mention the pure friendship moments these girls have through out this movie! It’s incredible and I love these characters sooooo much! Best pixiar movie ever!!!
Is it sad that you two are by far the most respectful men I know of and I’ve never even met you?
I appreciate the compliment, but I'm also sorry that that's been your experience. I really hope you manage to meet some quality dudes irl - Stef
the ace rep comment brought me to literal tears. loved the reaction and the recognition of how awesome, accurate and important this movie is
between this, coco and encanto, the generational trauma, the culture and how relatable it is. I'm just GLOWING I'm loving it hahaha this is healing for everyone tbh. the adults and the children but some people who are offended that this is accurate need to wise up because they are part of the problem, the shame has to stop.
I've never commented on your reactions before I believe so now's as good a time as any. I think you two are lovely and your introspection and willingness to engage with your media makes you guys some of the best reactors and reviewers on RUclips. You guys genuinely improve viewing experiences because of the things you bring up-- you remind me of my friends from my old film classes in the best way.
This film raised feelings I didn't know I had about my relationship with my dad. It was all heart and laughs until Mei confronted her mom's young self. Jesus Christ I'm still wiping my tears away.
So now a little anecdote about me and my dad I didn't know I'd write:
He and I went on similar mental health journeys 50 years apart and while he's always been supportive, his pressure on my academic and beginnings of my professional life has overshadowed so much of my path in life. He grew up with an alcoholic Korean war vet for a father and a strong-willed mother that did most of the parenting and almost no other close family. He's so smart and kind but so repressed. I always felt like I was just an over-achiever for myself but it was so much of my dad's influence being in higher education for almost 40 years now. I grew up needing to impress him and rarely experiencing failure until my mental health totally failed me in undergrad. I'm still dealing with the fallout of severe undiagnosed ADHD and depression, something I didn't know I'd basically inherited from my dad to a tee.
A few years ago, when my grandmother/his mother died, I learned things about him he'd never talked about. He had no direction, worked the night audit for a decade to work through school, almost failed out of undergraduate and then graduate school, experienced the death of his father from cancer, went through a marriage and divorce, and got his PhD all from like 1975-1985. It's hard to contextualize all he went through. As a kid you just don't know all of the experiences that shaped your parents and the things they end up passing onto you. His potential disappointment has always felt so heavy in my life. It's one of the worst and most crushing feelings I've known.
I'm still working through what all of that means. These realizations didn't change my love for my father, but it made that relationship for nuanced and hard to to examine. And back to the part where this movie made me think of all these things. I have felt so burnt out my the constant churn of Disney films but this was one feels like every inch was made with depth and love. It's an incredible feat when a movie can move you like that and reexamine the relationships in your own life; Inside Out was the last Disney film to do that for me.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! We appreciate all the support 😊
I read through your anecdote about your father and it was quite touching. I hope you keep working through your stuff cause mental health is a lifelong journey. Much love 😊 - Sam
I really liked this movie, more than encanto tbh. Since the movie was set in 2002, it reminded me so much of my childhood (i was 7 at that time). Having a tamagotchi and being obsessed with boybands.. those were good times 😅 And the friendship of the three girls and mei was so sweet!
Coco, Encanto, Turning Red, absolutely obsessed hope animation Studios keep the Generational Trauma theme in their movies! It's refreshing to see my own family dynamic mirrored in media not to mention wonderful to see some actually fleshed out adults and families as normally protagonist are often either orphans or the adults in their life have two minutes of screen time in total.
Fun fact (for people who don't know); all the songs that 4-Town sing are written by Billie Eilish & Her Brother, Finneas and Finneas actually voices the member Jesse. Also 4-Town were inspired by 1990s and 2000s bands like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Westlife, 98 Degrees, & O-Town and the director said that Tae-Young was inspired by Jimin (from BTS)
I really love that the moms panda was put into something she can interact with and take care of. It’s a very good visual representation on healing from childhood trauma and healing your inner child.
36:35
My thoughts too! From growing up as a preteen/teen in the flip-phone era as well (albeit a couple years later from 2002), phones breaking was a thing (not to the point that it was that often because they were expensive investments for their time, but it was definitely a way to commit a major low-blow for that time period too).
Four is unlucky in Japan (and I think Korea) too. In Japanese, the number 4 also sounds like the word for "death." If you're counting the number of people in a space, you would add "nin" (person) after each number (ichi-nin, nee-nin, san-nin, etc). When you get to four, you'd say "yon-nin" as opposed to "shi-nin" because it sounds like you're saying "dead person."
Unrelated, but the number 18 in Korean (ship-pal) also sounds like "shi-pal" which is a curse word sort of equivalent to "fuck" or "shit" lol. The swear words in Korean are quite 🤌🏾exquisite. There are multiple ways to essentially say "fuck" or "fuck off" that also has pretty specific meanings.
It's so hilarious how over here in Europe nobody hates the movie and the USA is like "oh shit they mentioned periods and realistic teen behavior!! This movie is disgusting".
I really love this movie because it's really overdue and relatable, even if you don't have the same cultural aspects. Wanting to share your interests with your parents and then being forced to do the exact opposite because they'll just hurt you hits home. All of us can probably relate to that. Also as an afab (assigned female at birth) person it's also cool to see periods naturally mentioned in this but then again it's crazy that we're in 2022 and this is only happening now.
Gotta love how when Mei started drawing the dude, she like sped through what should’ve been years of accumulated fanart buildup. Making up for lost time. 😂🤣😂
Everyone blames the mom when things go wrong, the mom blames everyone else but Mei, and Mei blames herself 🤔
There’s only one post credit scene and it’s Mei’s dad being a 4Town stan in the basement lol. Definitely one of my favorite characters in the movie. 😆
The amount of accuracy in this movie is insane, I can relate so much to the fanfics/fanarts, boy bands, boy crazy in general, and the rear and stress of my family and people at school and what they thought of me. It's just how the teenage phase works I guess 😂 And I like how nonchalant they are about the dirty jokes and stuff because that's really how it is in deals life, this movie is awesome and definitely a new favourite, coming from a 17 year old girl lmao
It makes me a bit sad to know some people (mainly men, not all but mainly) give this movie bad ratings because it's actually a really really good movie in my opinion and when my friend first suggested it as a good movie I had no idea how much I'd actually like and appreciate it. People get upset over movies like this sometimes, but these are issues that need to be addressed. Animated movies are literally becoming so much more deep and relatable now, like Encanto, Turning Red, Coco, Luca... And because so many people revolt against Turning Red, it proves the purpose of its making in the first place. I bet you if there was an animated movie exactly like this one but from the guys' pov, there would be more girls disliking it but more guys saying it's normal. Can't both genders just be open-minded about that, because literally all of this is a normal thing that happens at that age, it's called puberty and being a teenager. It's also called, being human. Personally, I wouldn't mind an animated movie like Turning Red, but from a 13 year old boy's perspective and everything. If anything,I might actually like it. I just wish it could be the same for girls too, all in all I wish both men and women could be respected and accepted for who they are. Women can be strong, men can be emotional and soft, etc, all of these things and society projects onto us and for what. Telling us to be ourselves and then turning it's back away from you, it's pathetic and if you're someone who agrees with me I'm sure you're sick of it too.
But anyways yea love this reaction, it is a good movie and it makes me happy that you guys liked it!! Sorry my comment was unreasonably long, but hey have a beautiful day/night ^^
9:36
I’m honestly kind of impressed by this sequence because it *never stopped* getting worse
I'm a 68-year-old black man who loves this movie.
When Mr Gao first saw the red panda flying overhead, he knew exactly what had happened.
Interestingly, the basic plot of Pixar's "Cars" was the same as the movie "Doc Hollywood" starring Michael J Fox. The basic plot of this Pixar movie was the same as the movie "Teen Wolf," which also starred Michael J Fox.
Four is an unlucky number in China. It's also extremely unlucky to break a jade ornament, as Mei's grandmother and aunts did for her.
Red is a lucky color in China, but all the women wore green, which is the opposite color on the color wheel.
Ohhh, I love those movie comparisons! Well picked 👌
Thanks for the extra info, Kirk 😊 - Sam
My 14 year old daughter put this on and we watched it together. Not something I'll soon forget, hit us in all the bonding and feels.
38:14 and then you realize in hindsight she was just looking for any excuse to not be there when the rest of the family showed up.
also, those 4-town songs were straight up bangers and they had no business being that good.
Right!? I'm actually mad there's only three of them. Billie and Finneas need to drop a full album asap lol - Stef
“I thought I had more time”
The exact words my mom said too 😭 mines happened on a school day. Thankfully I didn’t freak out at school nor did I tell the school nurse haha
But I did go home crying LOL
I’m sorry to hear you had that experience - Sam
"Serving up ethereal reallness." lol
And I freaking LOVE Abby. Like looking in the mirror.
Mei is the presenter of GenZ generation: no fear, confident and accept your trueself. Her mom, aunties and grandma are from the old generation, they had bad experiences being red panda. They think it’s not normal, a freak, they don’t accept “it” which means the shadow of themself. But Mei is different. She knows what she wants, what she needs and decide to keep “it”. She accepted her trueself.
I LOVE this reaction! also love that you pointed out boybands being totally screwed over by their management and making nothing from their work, if anyone is interested Lance bass helped produce a doc called the boy band con about Nsync and a bunch of boybands that got conned by Lou Pearlman. really interesting stuff and it will make you want to go back and listen to some nsync and backstreet boys lol
This... movie has gotten some surprisingly explosive reactions, but I goddamn love and appreciate it.
A lot of people can't relate or understand how legit a lot of the family stuff is. FAMILIES ARE LIKE THAT, KIDS ARE LIKE THAT
i remember asking my mom not to call when i was on vacation with my dad. Its not that i didnt love her or didnt miss, bc i did, but i had spent the whole year with her and just wanted to feel like i was living with my dad when i got to be with him. It hurt her feelings very badly and to this day, 10+ years on, she still brings it up. Theres a great deal of others stuff too, but i think this was one of the early divits in our relationship. Things seemed to just get worse the older i got
i love how i doesnt look like a pixar movie, i wish in the furture they would mix both approaches, it would bump me not to have anything in the style we've grown up with, but i hope we'll get a mix of more traditional pixar movies and some more experimental stuff (also i wish i would someday have the chance to work with someone like the director of the movie : deeply passionate, extremely talented but not so full of herself that she cuts everyone off. she seems like a true leader)
It's funny because there's this idea of "Pixar Style" that is used to say that Turning Red is too experimental... when THE ORIGINAL PIXAR MOVIES WERE ALL EXPERIMENTAL! Toy Story, Bugs, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo! So many Pixar classics are specially made to be experimental!
I love that this talked about periods so that teenagers and adults would understand it but kids wouldn't. Love that this was mainly written/produced/directed by women. Love that it didn't take place in America. Love that it showed Asian cultures. Even had a GAYYYYYY moment!
If it helps, I’m a guy and I’m considering touching on the issue of periods in a comic I’m working on.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster very cool! I'm sure some women in your life could give you some advice if you needed any. We all have stories.
Amen to all of that, bud 😊 - Stef
As an asexual aromantic, obviously I can't speak for every person like me but I definitely still had crushes on bands as a kid haha :) again, not every ace/aro would but I was so happy that you guys mentioned it as a valid sexuality. Thanks for making my week
You guys are so kind and insightful, appreciating your reactions to things, especially to this. Hearing you relate and empathize to the characters was so fulfilling. Cheers!
Thank you 😊 we try to truly see what’s up and not just skim the surface so we appreciate the acknowledgment 🙏 - Sam
This was such a funny and also deep movie and so different from anything that has been done before. There is also a documentary on it, where the creators talk about how it was made and I found that inspiring, cause the woman who wrote the story is the character in it, it's her own story and the project was super personal to her.
Yeah! That's why it felt so genuine and good
I'd really like to see that. The fact that it's based on someone's lived experience makes it even funnier that some people are honestly claiming that "teenage girls don't act like that" 😂 - Stef
@@themoviebud1988 For people who claim that, I honestly feel sorry for them, cause they either never allowed themselves to feel any real emotions, or are too afraid to admit they did. That's what is so amazing about teenage years, you're so much more free. Then you become an adult and you're expected to just put a leaf on and hide behind a tree like everyone else, so to speak, and be ashamed of your every breath.