Meet the big red panda in Turning Red and prepare to fall in love! Disney Pixar’s latest is going straight to a Disney+ release and skipping the theater, which is a shame. But that just means everyone can enjoy this delightful film from the comfort of their own home. Is Turning Red Ok for kids? This parent’s guide will help you decide how kid-friendly and safe Turning Red is for children in your home. Here’s what you need to know. Read the best movie quotes from Turning Red.
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About Turning Red
Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence.
Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager.
And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda! Directed by Academy Award® winner Domee Shi (Pixar short “Bao”) and produced by Lindsey Collins “Turning Red launches exclusively on Disney+ on March 11, 2022.
Watch the Turning Red trailer.
Download the free Turning Red coloring pages and activity pack here.
Is Turning Red Ok For Kids? Parents Guide and Review
It’s totally normal for a family to think Disney Pixar movies will relate to family-friendly fare on the big screen.
And so far, you’d be right!
Pixar has a solid kid-friendly record, though there are some exceptions with violence, scare factors, and language (Incredibles 2 comes to mind here).
Since each family has concerns that dictate what parents feel is appropriate for their children to view, we put together parent guides and reviews to help families make those decisions.
Is Turning Red Ok For Kids? In this parents guide and review, we’re breaking down the language, sex/nudity, and violence that happens in the movie to help you determine if watching Turning Red is kid-friendly and safe for kids in your home.
Is Turning Red Ok For Kids? Mature Topics
While there isn’t any obvious sex and nudity in Turning Red, there are topics that relate to sexual maturity and puberty.
This can be seen as a mature topic for some households, depending on how you choose to broach these subjects.
Discussions, visuals, and dialogue include topics such as pads, periods, puberty, cramps, and PMS.
It’s an allegorical story discussing puberty, so if this is a topic your family hasn’t discussed just yet, you may want to preview it first, or at least be ready to answer some questions that may come up.
The girls in this story are newly boy crazy, especially when it comes to a popular boy band, 4-Town.
There are discussions on how hot and desirable the boys are. This only ramps up when Meiling gets her period.
Bullying is a central focus, as are the complicated relationships between parents and children.
Sex and Nudity?
Nothing (really) to see here, folks!
Turning Red is basically sex and nudity free, minus the boy crazy talk mentioned above.
There is a reference to doing ‘sexy’ things and some gyrations to a favorite song, but nothing salacious or shocking for a PG movie.
One note: Mei does make some drawings of an older boy’s chest and arms, indicating that she’s just noticing his body. It’s brief, but her mother does have a shocking reaction when she finds it so attention is called to this moment.
Is Turning Red Too Scary For Kids?
While Turning Red is nowhere near as scary as The Batman for kids, there are some moments that might be concerning to younger children.
The scenes are brief, but dark, and could be frightening in the way that nightmares can be for kids.
Turning Red is not too scary at all, but be aware there are a few intense, short moments.
Language: Is Turning Red Kid-Friendly?
Turning Red doesn’t have any swear words and sticks to a solid PG rating when it comes to language.
There are some bullying moments and words used that are unkind, but nothing that stands out as a 4-letter swear parents need to know about.
There are no F-bombs or uses of diety in this one (minus OMG typed out and said in letter form- in our family, that’s oh my gosh!), so Turning Red is safe for most kids on a language level.
Language used in Turning Red includes:
- heck
- crap
- sucks
- freak
- stupid
- dork
- butthead
- perv
- psycho
- OMG
Turning Red Age Rating
Turning Red is rated PG. It also has a run time of 99 minutes which is a perfect amount of movie for a younger audience.
For what it’s worth, Turning Red is squarely aimed at the tweens and young teens, so don’t let your older children dismiss it as a Pixar cartoon for babies!
What ages can watch Turning Red? Can kids under the age of 6 watch this Pixar movie? Should boys watch Turning Red?
We think this one can be enjoyed by most children – boys AND girls- ages 6 and up.
Turning Red is ok for most kids in typical Pixar fashion. It’s kid-friendly and safe for most children.
Will they get the references and the jokes as it relates to puberty? Unless they’ve had that talk with their families, probably not. Parents may be surprised, but truly, it will go over most children’s heads.
But in case they do ask for an explanation, you may want to be prepared for “the talk” in some way, shape, or form, parents!
This parent’s guide for Turning Red will hopefully give you the heads up you need before your next family movie night.
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Patty Holliday is a parent movie reviewer, writer, and podcaster living in the Washington, DC area. Her goal is to bridge the gap between casual fandom and picky critic with parent movie and television reviews. As a lifelong fangirl and pop culture connoisseur, she’s been creating online since 2009. You can find her work at No-Guilt Disney.com, No-Guilt Fangirl.com, No-Guilt Life, and as host of the top-rated No-Guilt Disney Podcast.