《青春变形记》：谁能拒绝一只毛茸茸的小熊猫呢？

"Turning Red" Review: Beware the Red-Furred Monster

《青春变形记》影评：小心，红毛怪兽来袭！

A quirky Asian teenager transforms into a giant red panda whenever she gets excited… even the premise gives me pause. Which makes the task of reviewing the new Disney/Pixar film "Turning Red" especially tricky. Because that"s the idea behind this coming-of-age movie, which toes the line between truthfully representing a Chinese family, flaws and all, and indulging stereotypes.

一个“另类”的亚裔少年一兴奋就会变成一只巨大的小熊猫……即使是这个设定都让我停下来仔细考虑了一下。这更让给迪士尼/皮克斯新片《青春变形记》写影评的任务变得特别困难。因为这就是这部成长电影的问题所在：它既真实地表现了一个华裔家庭，包括其中的缺陷和一切，但也纵容了人们对它的固有成见。

Meilin Lee is a typical 13-year-old girl: She dances, has crushes on boys and has a cohort of weird but loyal besties who share her obsession with the boy band 4*Town. She"s also Chinese Canadian, living in Toronto in 2002, where her family maintains a temple. There she helps her loving but overbearing mother, Ming, and tries to be the perfect daughter - even when that means burying her own thoughts and desires in the process. This becomes a lot more difficult when she goes through her changes - not of the period, but the panda kind.

李美琳是一个典型的13岁女孩：她会跳舞，会暗恋男孩儿，还有一群同样有些“另类”却关系很铁的闺蜜，和她一样痴迷于男团“四城男孩”。同时，她也是一名加拿大华裔，生活在2002年的多伦多，家里还经营着一个宗祠。在那里，她帮助她慈爱但又霸道的母亲李茗，努力成为一个完美女儿，即使这意味着在这个过程中她需要埋藏自己的想法和欲望。然而，在她经历了一些“变化”的时候（不是月经初潮，而是变成熊猫的那种“变化”），这一切变得困难起来。

The character writing and design are where "Turning Red," directed by Domee Shi, most succeeds. Mei has the relatable swagger of the middle school cool nerd - she"s creative and confident, and also has a perfect report card. The tomboy skater girl Miriam, the deadpan Priya and the hilariously fiery Abby form a funky trifecta of gal pals who are Mei"s emotional safety net. Shi finds subtle yet effective ways to illustrate the personalities of even the ancillary characters. And the animation of Mei"s hair in her panda form reinforces her emotional shifts.

《青春变形记》由石之予执导，人物刻画和设计是它最成功的地方。小美是中学时代那种大大咧咧的好学生，自信又有创造力，还有一张完美的成绩单。假小子滑板女孩米里亚、故作正经的普里亚和滑稽火爆的艾比组成了小美与众不同的闺蜜三人组，她们也是小美的情感安全网。即使是配角，导演石之予对她们的性格刻画都是微妙而有效的。小美在熊猫形态下毛发的动画效果更加强了对她情感转变的刻画。

It"s no surprise that these kinds of expressions are where Shi"s direction most shines; as in her 2018 Oscar-winning Pixar short "Bao," "Turning Red" lives and breathes on the complex emotional relationship between a mother and a child preparing to leave the nest. And also as in "Bao," in which a mother raises a steamed bun child from birth to adulthood, here again Shi uses a culturally specific metaphor to convey her characters" emotions.

毫无疑问，这类表达是导演最闪亮的地方。正如她在2018年获得奥斯卡奖项的皮克斯短片《包宝宝》中一样，《青春变形记》也生动地展现了一个母亲和一个准备离巢的孩子之间复杂的情感关系。在《包宝宝》中，一位母亲将一个包子宝宝从出生养大到成年。而在《青春变形记》里，导演又一次用了一个文化上的特殊隐喻来表达人物的情感。

This is where "Turning Red" gets sticky: Though the plot"s red panda magic is rooted in its characters" cultural traditions (the Lees honor an ancestor who defended her family with the power of a red panda), these details aren"t enough to absolve the film of its kid-friendly version of exoticism.

这就是《青春变形记》让人感到难以评价的地方：尽管剧情中小熊猫的魔力源于人物的文化传统（李氏家族敬拜一位利用小熊猫的力量保护家人的祖先），但这些细节还是会让人觉得电影中的这种异国法术有些幼稚。

And when it comes down to the movie"s conflict, the antagonists are the women in Mei"s family. Or, more accurately, the suffocating cultural traditions and familial expectations that are embodied by the women. Is the film tackling the stereotype or fulfilling it? The line is too blurry to tell. By the end, a bit of understanding, empathy and a pandapocalypse reassure us that the stoic Asian dames aren"t the source of the problem but also victims, like Mei. Though I wonder what the movie would look like if the conflict wasn"t enacted solely in the form of these women.

而在电影冲突这块，电影主要的“反派”是小美家族中的那些女性。或者，更准确地说，是这些女性所代表的令人窒息的文化传统和家庭期望。所以这部电影到底是在反抗固有观念还是在迎合它？这条界线太过模糊，难以界定。到最后，一些理解、共情和一场“熊猫末日”大灾难使我们确信，那些坚忍不拔的亚裔女性并不是问题的根源，她们和小美一样，也是受害者。虽然我很想知道，如果不通过这些女性来表达冲突，这部电影会是什么样子。

It"s too bad that "Turning Red" fumbles its storytelling, but at the very least it has fun when it lets its fur fly.

可惜《青春变形记》的故事没有讲好，不过至少小熊猫的皮毛飞扬的时候还是很可爱的。

#青春变形记之小熊#