Bear with a sore head: Teenager Meilin (Rosalie Chiang) transforms into a giant red panda every time she experiences strong emotions.
Alamy
IN SO MANY ways, Turning Red is Pixar’s first period movie. Domee Shi’s coming-of-age story about Chinese-Canadian tween Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) doesn’t just take an unabashed attitude towards menstruation — it’s also specifically set in Toronto in the heady days of 2002, reflected in the film’s music, fashion, fads and more. “This story was inspired by my own life growing up, so why not set it in my hometown?” says Shi. Creating “a very specific time and place” was, she says, always the point — so she talked Empire through bringing back early ’00s Toronto, Pixar-style.