Review of Paprika
Studio: Madhouse Plot: A+ *An invention known as the DC-Mini is made by a team of scientists with the intention of helping people by allowing doctors to enter the dreams of patients to give them the care that they need to assist in their mental health. However, before the company could get approval from the Japanese government to make the product official, a prototype of the DC-Mini device was stolen and is being used to alter and destroy the personalities of the people who the thief overpowers in their sleep. So it's up to Dr. Atsuko Chiba and the help of Detective Konakawa Toshimi to findthe perpetrator and to stop him from messing with the minds of other victims before things get out of control. This is the type of script that sci-fi fans have wetdreams about. This is an awesome premise that makes for a super exciting film.
Visuals: A+ *今敏 [Satoshi Kon]'s most interesting and visually-striking film. Vivid imagery and colors are prevalent everywhere as the dream world and the real world collide in this story. Watching reality fade in and out as the story bursts forward becoming more and more confusing as it rushes to its exciting conclusion was a visual feast for the eyes that is unrelenting. Ranked up there amongst the most beautiful anime that I've ever watched.
Voice Acting: As usual, I went with the Dub and unlike 千年女優 [Millennium Actress], this dub is very good. Cindy Robinson did a great job as Paprika doing as she treaded that thin line of being cute without being over-the-top like a pro. But even more impressively, she doubled down as the main protagonist Dr. Atsuko Chiba and they indeed sound like two polar opposite people with both their personalities and their vocal mannerisms.
Film Score/Soundtrack: B+ *Lots of repetition, but no matter how many times and different iterations I hear of the main theme, I can't help but fall for it's ridiculously upbeat and cheerful nature.
***My favorite track(s):
The Girl In Byakkoya
A Drop Filled With Memories
Medititational Field
(I couldn't choose just one, so I put all variations of the song here. This is just one of those songs you hear and you are flabbergasted by how original it sounds and it stays with you forever)
Characters: C+ *This is where the movie struggles. It's not that any of the characters are bad or unlikable, it's just that with so much happening in such a short runtime, there isn't really time to connect to the characters as much as I was hoping to. Especially when they have their alter-egos which have differing personalities. The only character I was really able to connect with was Detective Konakawa Toshimi and that's because he was the only character that the film delved into his backstory with and had his troubled past shape the dreams he had to navigate through to help solve the mystery to help save Paprika.
Cringeworthy Anime Moments: Same as I said with Millenium Actress, Satoshi Kon pushes boundaries and doesn't do so in a way that makes you think fanservice or any sort of audience pandering. He does it with originality, unique art styles, great directing techniques, and with the exciting execution of his ideas.
Opening Titles: A+ Gorgeous visuals and an addictively optimistic, upbeat, and catchy track to draw us in.
Final Verdict: 8/10 *It's funny, Paprika is one of Satoshi Kon's most well-known films, and it easily has his best visuals, but it still is my least favorite of the three that I've seen. (I still need to see 東京ゴッドファーザーズ [Tokyo Godfathers]). And I think that mainly has to do with the ending that kind of comes out of nowhere. There is a bunch of stuff that kind of just happens at the end without much explanation and then it finishes off without giving us time to see how the events of the film are going to impact the characters. Where パーフェクト・ブルー [Perfect Blue] and Millenium Actress focused more on the characters, Paprika directed its attention to the dream-like reality taking over the real-world phenomenon. That choice led to this movie being super exciting to watch from beginning to end, but I think this movie could have benefitted from a half-hour more runtime to give the characters more personality and to actually build that romance a bit. This might come across as semi-controversial, but I love what Christopher Nolan did with the ideas from Inception that he borrowed and how he went even further into explaining the science behind how going into dreams works and then gave his protagonist Dom Cobb a lot more depth than Dr. Tokita Kosaku and Dr. Atsuko Chiba ever did. However, as I said before, I did really enjoy Detective Konakawa Toshimi and how his guilt affected his dreams and how Morio Osanai was able to feed on that in the dream fight.