Somehow, Pixar has been relegated to Disney+… but that’s ok since that certainly makes it easier to watch. And happy to say that, when this movie launches and you just want the excitable teen girls to chill out, that that’s part of the plot. Because wow… this movie puts the extra in extra at times.

The film is about a Chinese-Canadian girl who is excitable, optimistic, and forward-thinking but who also honors her traditional Chinese family. When she randomly turns into a giant red panda one day, she finds out about the family curse… and how she changes when she has strong emotions of any kind. But how is she going to go see her favorite boy band if she can’t geek out with her friends?

Seemingly playing a cultural modality that I’m not familiar with, this movie has its ups and downs. I was appreciating but not loving its apparent theme that the girl has to obey her parents in all things and tap down on her enthusiasm. That kind of bugged me back of the mind, but it turns out that’s also part of the theme and plot of the film.

Because, yeah, this movie’s major stakes are whether a girl who grew up in Canada can be herself and not obey all the requirements of her more traditional Chinese family. And they – as far as I can tell – do this while still being able to honor the family. It’s a nice balancing act… which might cheese off some Chinese parents. I don’t know. I’m looking in from the outside.

All that said though, the movie does drag a little here and there and sometimes its excitability can get pretty tiring. But that excitability can still be charming, fun, and funny. Some of the girls just raging out or squee’ing themselves to death is good animation and character design.

If the movie didn’t stick to a theme and feel like something a couple of Chinese-American/Canadian writer/directors experienced themselves as young girls, I’d probably give this movie a three. But I respect the courage to have this family dynamic be the centerpiece of the movie. Not alien invasions, not mutant enemies… just a family squabble (and giant red pandas).

Score: 80