Paprika, based on a serialized novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, isn't a movie that's meant to be understood so much as simply experienced--or maybe dreamed.
Paprika(パプリカ)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2006
Rated R · 1h 30m
Director Satoshi Kon
Starring Megumi Hayashibara, Tōru Furuya, Kouichi Yamadera, Katsunosuke Hori
Genre Animation, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
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DC Mini is a machine made to allow therapists to enter their patients' dreams to better understand them. Seems helpful enough. Until it falls into the wrong hands. Now it's up to Paprika to figure out who is using the machine for evil - and stop them.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Paprika ain't no kiddie 'toon, even if its thumpin' techno-pop and bubble-gum thrills have the same splashy palette as an episode of "Pokémon" or "Dragon Ball Z."
It happens to be one of the most wildly (and disturbingly) inventive animated films I've seen.
The brilliant Paprika, directed by Satoshi Kon--a masterly example of Japanese anime, intended for adults--is partly hand drawn, and features multiple areas of visual activity layered at different distances from the picture plane.
I can't claim to have followed the story line of Paprika any better than I did "Pirates of the Caribbean," but this mind-blowing, adult animated adventure from Japan is half the length and maybe five times as much fun.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
It's a great place to visit, even if you wouldn't want to live there.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
A gorgeous riot of future-shock ideas and brightly animated imagery, the doors of perception never close.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Fiercely provocative, Paprika shames Hollywood’s use of animation as a kiddie pacifier.
The Hollywood Reporter by Richard James Havis
It is an intelligently written piece that only falters during the finale.
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PAPRIKA uses the imagination — more specifically, the dream world — to show what animation can do. If the modern viewer is able to look past some off-putting fatphobia, they will be rewarded with striking colors and interesting characters, though I personally didn’t enjoy the director’s concerted attempts to tie up loose ends and provide almost an excessive amount of closure at the, well, closing. Still, if you assume animation is inherently childish, this film will show you how wrong you are.
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story