Paprika is for dyed-in-the-wool anime fans only. Others will likely see it for what it is -- a pretentious piece of animated nonsense.
Paprika (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:85
Fresh:70
Rotten:15
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Following its own brand of logic, Paprika is an eye-opening mind trip that rarely makes sense but never fails to dazzle. The film weaves in and out of dream worlds seamlessly and presents an offbeat puzzle of a fantasy.
Theatrical Release:May 25, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $720,502
Synopsis: With PAPRIKA, Satoshi Kon (TOKYO GODFATHERS, MILLENNIUM ACTRESS) unleashes another eye-popping anime adventure. The visually striking thriller is set in the not-too-distant future, where doctors... With PAPRIKA, Satoshi Kon (TOKYO GODFATHERS, MILLENNIUM ACTRESS) unleashes another eye-popping anime adventure. The visually striking thriller is set in the not-too-distant future, where doctors are developing a groundbreaking new psychotherapy treatment called PT. This coincides with the invention of a device called the "DC Mini," which enables researchers to enter the dreams of a subject and explore matters of the unconscious mind. But one day, a "DC Mini" prototype goes missing, and the doctors are thrown into a world of confusion. They realize how dangerous a turn of events this could be, and to ensure that things don't spiral out of control, they embark on a mad quest to track down the missing prototype. The pretty but timid Dr. Atsuko Chiba teams up with the food-loving Dr. Tokita to find his assistant, Himuro, who has disappeared. Unfortunately, it is at this time that Atsuko's boss, Torataro Shima, tries to commit suicide. Dr. Tokita calls in an old friend, Detective Konakawa, to help the team find an answer to the rapidly devolving problem. As the characters use their dreamworld alter egos to enter the dreams of troubled patients, the line between reality and unreality begins to blur, until no one knows for sure what is real and what isn't. An adaptation of a story by the acclaimed Japanese writer Yasutaka Tsutsui, PAPRIKA tells a tough-to-decipher, but spellbinding, tale. Kon's thought-provoking film features an absurdly catchy J-pop score and an unforgettable visual landscape. [More]
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara, Toru Furuya
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara, Toru Furuya
Director: Satoshi Kon
Director: Satoshi Kon
Screenwriter: Satoshi Kon, Seishi Minakami
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for Paprika
Soulless characters in remarkably flat animation talking epistemological gobbledegook among watered-down psychedelia.
The anything-goes dream logic is confusing, and the question of why, late in the game, the nighttime fantasies start becoming real, is left mostly unexplained.
Paprika is yet another incoherent anime that's more interested in its warmed over visuals than in indulging in any kind of storytelling or character work.
Is it sci-fi? Fantasy? Idiocy? Mostly it's a droning mess -- pretty to look at but confounding to the point where you just don't care any more.
If an animated scattershot clusterfuck tweaking under the influence of a determinedly Japanese mindset sounds like a good way to substitute a cinematic drug experience for the real thing, then go right ahead to Satoshi Kon's overflowing excess.
Doesn't do much to free itself from the trappings of the anime genre, which one supposes isn't necessarily a bad thing for actual anime fans. But for the rest of us? That's more nightmare than dream come true.
When there’s this much spice and food for thought on one plate, how are you expected to taste anything at all?
As a purely sensory experience Paprika is a spicy dish, but one that doesn't deliver much nourishment for the mind.
That the supposed bad guys are actually intent in preserving the sanctity of dreams adds to the disorienting exhilaration of Kon's best work yet.
Smart, electrifying, and proudly unhinged, this Japanimated gem definitely belongs in the fold, and might even win over a few older art-house patrons with its very adult, transhumanist premise of interactive dream therapy run amok.
Paprika offers a breathtakingly surreal journey. It's a film that may serve up mass destruction and ponder some nightmarish scenarios, but underneath it has a warm humanity and humor that's utterly endearing.
Its visual collision of mindscapes, films within films and dreams within dreams cascade into a dizzying rush that easily washes away the humdrum dialogue and somewhat sketchy plot.
This one jacks you into cyberspace, involving you psychically and physically.
As anime goes, it's not the most freakish of entries, but it's one of the more surprising and scintillating.
Paprika tries to do too much and doesn't do any of it especially well.
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