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This movie is exhibit #1,000,000 in why every country but America takes animation seriously. Before I sound like too much a hopeless nerd, I want to state that Japan produces its share of crap, too; Paprika was probably in Japanese theaters at the same time as Naruto Movie 14: Naruto Fights a Dinosaur's Butthole. But it's gems like Paprika that makes me wish that Pixar would take at least half of the risks Satoshi Kon is taking with his movie-making career. Paprika is essentially the story of a dream detective, and I would be doing the story a major disservice by trying to describe it all in this review. Like all Satoshi Kon films, it has one leg in the real world, and the other in the surreal world. And through the creation of unique characters (which is hard in a medium that thrives on cliches), Kon makes the real parts of the movie just as involving as the surreal parts. Paprika is very similar in tone and storytelling as Kon's TV series, Paranoia Agent, so if you enjoyed that, there's no doubt that you'll love Paprika. I didn't like Paprika as much as Kon's last film, Tokyo Godfathers, but that's not saying Paprika is bad by any means. Any kind of movie operating in dream logic - especially dream logic as loose as what exists in Paprika - can never have an ending that's as satisfying as a movie rooted in a somewhat-real world. The bag of solutions you have to draw from in a dream logic movie is just too large. Paprika was, as I expected, just as amazing as Kon's previous work. I was lucky enough to watch this on the big screen, and seeing the flawless visuals expanded in front of me - along with hearing a fabulous soundtrack by Kon's longtime collaborator, Susumu Hirasawa - gave me an amazing feeling. I suspect Kon had the same feeling when he was making it. 5/5
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Jul 1, 2007 23:40
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 02:38 |
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