Review of Paprika
Well, this film certainly has some hype surrounding it. Mainly because of its director and with it being his final film before his death tragically of pancreatic cancer. The hype also makes sense due to the earlier work which came before Paprika. With me however, as with every film or series I watch, I try to set my expectations in such a way that I don't have any. That being said, I do believe it's lives up to most of the hype though for me it most certainly isn't perfect. This films central theme is balance. Not having too much of one thing while neglectingit's counter part. This is most predominantly captured with the dream world Vs real world scenario. However, we do focus on another element of balance with our detective though I don't want to say any more about that as it's best to discover than be told. I'm glad I read nothing but the film synapsis. This is the type of film that doesn't demand your focus, allowing the viewing to blissfully flow through the film in ignorance and come out enjoying this film about a DC mini and the dream world. However, if you provide the attention it deserves you'll realise it a lot deeper than is presented on the surface.
The story, for me, could have been a little fuller. I was able to get the central themes and the message of achieving balance clearly. I found though that inbetween the dialogue focused on its message, what I would call transitional dialogue that connects the pieces of the message together could have had more exploration. The film is short, I believe less than 90 mins. I believe 20 mins could have been added on to have more character building, world building etc and the film would have been better for it. Despite this criticism however, the pacing is excellent, the characters are excellent and, to mention this for a final time, the message it conveys, more so now than ever, is very important to consume.
The music is nothing exciting. Serves its purpose but is far from blowing minds. It kind of just exists in the film because it should rather than because it's wants to express another texture of story telling.
The animation is beautiful. What is rather heartwarming for an anime fan, is how much of scenes in Inception payed homage to scenes here. It really is amazing to see the source of inspiration for on of the greatest directors and writer of our time in Christopher Nolan. Character design is perfect and you can tell every frame was lovingly delivered and scrutinised over. The story is a complex one to show in live action or animation and despite this, the film does a superb job of displaying this complex world effortlessly.
Thoroughly enjoyable film and definitely one to recommend. I do wish it was longer with some of the story explored more, adding more context as a whole but despite this chritisism, it's still great.