Review of Paprika

Paprika is a 2006 film from renowned director Satoshi Kon. First thing first, i must state that this film totally dissapointed me. It was a dissapointment from Kon's career perspective and from the anime media perspective. As i had heard marvels about this film i couldn't be more excited, yet all that thrill faded rapidly away. For the story, the concept is interesting and the initial presentation of characters and setting engaging, but as the plot advances on it gets simplier and simplier to the point of being just a mere story of good guys vs bad guys. Also, the plot is predictable a lot ofthe time so there is little to no thrill.

The visual part of the film is possible the best, as the animation itself is as good as it can get, what you should expect from a top tier production like this. The designs are similar to other Kon films, perhaps the colour palette is brightier than in his other works. The film exploit its resources trying to give life to the world of dreams with uneven results. Most of the times they look good, but i cannot leave behind the sensation that for a film of this scale it should have been a lot more wildier and exciting, all the oniric sequences are not especially original, not a single moment that leaves you breathless, and that is a shame accounting other works of the director. Saying that we can tackle other of the film problems: It relies too much on the visuals to enhance the narrative. Normally this shouldnt be a problem, moreover a strengthy feature, but as the story is pretty simple and the characters are just what meets the eye you get to the feeling that there should be more to fill that void. In other animes happen that the design and visuals tend to be symbolic without a true meaning, Evangelion for example, but in those cases those visual features set the mood and give identity to the show, even if what you see is there for the sake of itself. Paprika is not the case, here you get the impression of being fooled into think it is a visionary and intelectual work when it isnt.

The version i saw was dubbed in my language (spanish), for those with interest in it, i must say that it was quite alright, a correct dubbing exercise without special merits but without many flaws. The only complain is the usual heartless performance of the voice actors, but in spanish anime dubs this is common to happen so i really wouldnt give it a lot of attention. The Soundtrack and sound effects are good, the same as with visuals, what you might be expecting from a film like this.

Overall, Paprika is a well-intended film with good direction and production but is dragged down by a mediocre plot. Not just an mediocre plot but a plot developed in the way that it builds high expectations just to burst the bubble as minutes go by.
I personally consider this the worst film work by Satoshi Kon and a truly overrated piece of anime.

You wont die from seeing it, but it is just a little above average, dont expect any masterpiece