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Movie · Comedy, Fantasy, Animated · 2022 · PG

Turning Red: parents' guide

9+our pick

Best for ages 9 and up. Rated PG for thematic material, suggestive content and language.

A funny, warm coming-of-age comedy best for tweens and their parents, about a 13-year-old who turns into a giant red panda whenever her emotions run high. The panda is a clear stand-in for puberty: there are open references to periods, pads and cramps, swooning crushes on a boy band, and lovestruck drawings of a shirtless teen store clerk. Mei also lies to her strict mom and sneaks off to a concert she was forbidden to attend. Violence and language are mild, but the subject matter is why we suggest 9, ideally watched together so questions can be talked through.

What's in it

Violence

Mild

Mostly property damage: the panda claws up walls, a dodgeball smashes a school window, and a giant panda tears through a packed concert arena as crowds flee. Spirit pandas shove and grapple. No one is seriously hurt.

Language

Mild

Two uses of crap, a couple of OMGs, and kid insults such as dork, jerkwad, butthead, narc and freak. No stronger profanity.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Tween girls gush about how hot a boy band is, kiss a poster and dance by shaking their rear ends. Mei draws a teen clerk shirtless and as a merman. Periods and pads come up openly. No nudity.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Mild

No drinking or drug use is shown. The only reference is Mei's mom claiming a scruffy teen must spend his days doing drugs.

Scary or intense scenes

Mild

A nighttime family ritual with chanting and glowing symbols, and a climax in which a building-sized panda stomps through a stadium. It is played mostly for laughs, but the scale may unsettle preschoolers.

Worth talking about

Mei feels she has to be the perfect daughter while she is changing fast. How can kids and parents talk honestly when they want different things?

Where to stream →

On our lists

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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Rotten Tomatoes, moviemom.com, movieguide.org, the MPA. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.