PUBERTY RUNS AMOK IN PIXAR’S ‘TURNING RED’

For better and worse, “Turning Red” is like no Pixar film before it.

The film, directed by Domee Shi, who made the lovely Oscar-winning short “Bao,” is the first Pixar movie directly solely by a woman. Its leadership team, including producers and art departments, is entirely female. And its protagonist, 13-year-old Meilin Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), is a Chinese-Canadian eighth-grader in the throws of puberty.

For Pixar, a factory of childhood whimsy designed to make adults cry, “Turning Red” fills in more than a few blind spots. Not only