Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Turning Red
The Pixar film Turning Red is one of the few American-produced films to be explicitly set in the Canadian city of Toronto, raising questions of the film’s accuracy. Turning Red includes a number of Toronto landmarks as well as clearly identifiable neighborhoods. Overall, Turning Red is an accurate representation of Toronto’s geography and culture.
Turning Red tells the story of Meilin, a Chinese-Canadian girl who discovers that she has inherited a family curse that transforms her into a giant red panda when she experiences strong emotions. The film is the third Pixar feature to be released directly to the Disney+ streaming service, and the studio’s first to be directed solely by a woman. Turning Red‘s voice cast stars Rosalie Chan as Meilin, and Sandra Oh as her mother Ming Lee.
The entire film is set in Toronto during 2002. Toronto is the largest city in Canada and one of the five largest in North America, as well as one of the most diverse in the world. Among its many communities is a large Chinese-Canadian presence, to which Turning Red‘s protagonist Meilin belongs. Toronto is a frequent location for Hollywood filming, having being used for major films like Shazam, It, and The Shape of Water. However, unlike many movies that use the city as a stand-in for other North American locations, Turning Red allows audiences to see distinctive Toronto locations that are usually intentionally obscured. The combination of the city’s geography and unique landmarks, coupled with the accurate cultural representation means that Turning Red is actually a very authentic recreation of the real Toronto.
From beginning to end, Turning Red includes several immediately recognizable Toronto landmarks such as the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing building in the Americas. The SkyDome (since renamed the Rogers Centre), a baseball stadium which has also hosted a number of high-profile entertainment events and become a Toronto landmark, is the setting for Turning Red‘s climactic scene. While the stadium is mostly known as the home of the Toronto Blue Jays, it has also hosted a number of major concerts, so it’s plausible that 4*Town would be playing there. The school Mei attends, Lester B. Pearson Middle School, is fictionalized. However, Toronto is full of public buildings named after Pearson, often considered one of Canada’s best Prime Ministers, including its largest airport, so the school name does help to add a sense of culture.
One of the reasons for Turning Red‘s positive reviews is its sense of authenticity. There are also a number of local signs that viewers from the Greater Toronto Area will recognize, such as the Daisy Mart convenience store where Devon works, part of a real chain prominent in Ontario, and the TTC public transit system, whose distinctive streetcars are visible at several points in the film. The chase scene where Meilin goes on a rampage in red panda form is set in Toronto’s colorful Kensington Market shopping area.
Director and screenwriter Domee Shi based much of Turning Red on her own experience growing up in Toronto as part of a Chinese-Canadian family, and this personal experience comes through in the detailed depiction of Toronto. The largely accurate portrayal of the city in Turning Red (which is available on Disney+) allows Torontonians to see their city in a new light as an animated setting, and gives other viewers a sense of Toronto’s distinctive culture. While some elements are fictionalized for narrative effect, the movie remains a faithful recreation of the city.
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