Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red

Erica Milsom's 2022 documentary follows the largely female team behind Pixar's Turning Red. Access to director Domee Shi and her core crew yields concrete information about how animation production works: how many times a character design changes, why a sequence gets cut, what arguments happen inside the studio. What makes it interesting is the connection drawn between the team's personal histories and the film's subject; what they say about mothers and daughters and about adolescent shame is presented as part of the production process. Against that, this is a Disney production and does not tell everything about conflicts inside the studio. The decision to send Turning Red straight to streaming rather than cinemas, and its effect on the team, also stays outside. Who it's for: viewers curious about animation production and how Pixar works. Who it's not for: anyone who has not seen Turning Red, or bothered by the promotional tone of studio-made documentaries.