So whos a 4*TOWN fan now? Also I forgot to mention, I actually really appreciate Pixar covering topics like this and real life experiences. It's a very clever (but weird) movie that I actually would watch again now surprisingly because I think I'd like it better, so it's a 7.1!

I don't mind that the characters acted cringe; let's be honest most teens (especially early teens) are pretty cringey. It's ok, because they're just kids. I think a lot of shows have teens as being so cool and grown up we forget that they really are still children mostly.

It is nice to see a movie where "cringe" is normalized so younger audiences and even older audiences can have something to relate too. This felt so much more real than the glorified beauty standards of today..

I actually didnt interpret the friends as using her. It was almost weirdly refreashing that when she was scared about using the panda they all just immediately said "ok, we'll just change our plans". I feel like so often plots like this make moments like this into a fight. And even when abby says she should stay a panda it was more because this was the only time mei lived for herself than her mother. this hits harder for me because my own friends have only ever been pushy to me to get me to open up, so these scenes hit a different way.

I love how this movie is actually about cringy teenagers and not "teenagers played by 30 year olds still on highschool".  I can't believe people think this film is "too sexy" plz this is Hormones and Hormones are awkward af not sexy 😂.

this movie can be boiled down to the quote "don't kill the part of you that's cringeworthy, kill the part of you that cringes" and i love it

"she did all this because of a concert though" nah it's what the concert represents! doing what her family wants represents the expectation to be "perfect", a stifling environment where she can't be her most joyful self and things & people she likes are looked down on. going to the concert (& keeping the panda) represents freeing that side of her and being able to express herself and be with the most important people to her.

As a 21 year old with a tween for a sister I feel like I’ve gained a new superpower, I have become immune to the cringe in this movie, the only two times I cringed were at the mom humiliating her daughter and when the 4 town guy started crying.

I appreciate he doesn't seem uncomfortable of the fact of the mentions of puberty, the fact that Mei is and her friend are a little boy thirsty and girls having periods it's refreshing.

Guys never really realize how thirsty teenage girls are.  I am very grateful that I had no art skills at 13 because I shudder at what I might have created.  And I'm not sure the boy band worship ever really leaves, I think it just evolves.  Look at your own comment sections for proof 🤣

I think drawing a perfect chalk circle on that uneven ground was the most unrealistic part of this movie 😂

As a woman who grew up in the early-mid 2000s and around 90s culture and music and as someone who has strict parents that at one point made me feel like I wasn’t good enough even though my grades were perfect, I related heavily to this. Around when I was 13 or 14 that’s when it rlly clicked for me that even though I grew up doing everything my parents asked of me that they still didn’t trust me or give me room to be myself. And it was even worse bc my parents didn’t ever explain anything puberty related. Everything I learned, I learned at school, but bc I’m from Texas, even that was minimal. I related to basically every aspect of this movie including the embarrassing moment of the mom finding my embarrassing art in a journal. I’m also a poc so I rlly relate to the idea that respecting your parents comes first. So for me this movie was genuinely amazing. I get a lot of guys can’t relate to this but I feel like you don’t need to have grown up as a little girl to relate to the themes of growing up.

This movie was very very relatable to me and I love that it shows a nice loving friendship between girls. And I thought it was very clever in what was showing and portraying. Teen years are hard for any girl and their moms.

Every scene where I though "wtf, why are the characters acting like this", I later realized were EXACTLY how the characters would have acted in real life. I use to take photos at high school proms (with a backdrop and props and staged stuff) and I always had to set up my stuff so I wasn't looking towards the dance floor. Nothing but cringe over there.

This movie nailed that perfectly and didn't shy away from it. For that Pixar deserves credit. Too many films shy away from how real teenagers act so they can avoid cringe. This film is unapologetically "real" in terms of how kids act.

“Don’t let your girls watch boy bands because they will stay a panda forever.” ~ Welchy 2022

Momma, buzz in to the front office. Leave Mei Mei's pads there, and have someone call for Mei Mei to go to the office. Then she can discreetly be given the pads, stuff them in her bag, and hit up the bathroom on her way back to class. That's how you give your girl what she needs, without mortifying her for life.

Mei: I am my own person.
Sassy Scotsman: Well done.

“Kids these days…”

movie takes place in 2002

Taking drugs at 13 does not make you cool! Amen, Welchy. At 13, my "red peonie" had already bloomed 2 years ago. I would trade that hell for the power to shapeshift into a giant red panda at will in a heartbeat.

Her friends weren't using her just encouraging her to be herself and be happy since they observed how happy she is with the panda.