Review of Paprika

To start with the film Paprika is a movie about the concepts of dreams and having the ability to enter one's dreams. Many already know that Satoshi Kon is an excellent producer of many great films, so I was excited to watch Paprika as my very first Satoshi Film. But after watching the movie, I regretted having so much excitement towards the film, but cause the feelings I had after watching it was lackluster. STORY 4/10 If you're familiar with Satoshi's work you already know that he enjoys mixing reality with illusions. An amazing concept to see when it's done correctly. However, Satoshi's amazing style wasn't enoughto save the forced and honestly bland narrative of the story. The main plot to Paprika was so blatantly obvious, the plot twist didn't even strike an "OH wow" inside my brain. The character's next move more too easy to read making it not an enjoyable plot to watch unfold.

However, the side plot of the story was enough to change my mind from rating 2/10. The side plot featuring the detective was far more interesting than the main storyline. It left you intrigued and wanted to figure out more. Each time you listened to the detective tell his story, you get stuck with this feeling of "Oh now I get" as you watched it. Honestly speaking I wish the side plot, was the main storyline of the film because it did better in terms of pacing and keeping the audience guessing.

Along with the very obvious plot, the story included a very forced love story that came out of know where. Throughout the movie we watched the main character interact with everyone, not having a single clue about her having underlying feelings for another character. Only for the film to toss in a very awkward love narrative between the protagonist and another character, 20 minutes before the movie concluded. And once again the side plot, did a much better job carrying out a love narrative between the detective and the secondary protagonist, as we see his desires displayed since the movie's opening.

ART 10/10

The art of this film was amazing. The way the characters moved, and the way the imagery brought life to the movie. If it weren't for the imagery and amazing graphic of Paprika, I would have dropped the movie the moment its main plot was introduced. In terms of Paprika, it's imagery seemed to be the primary focus of the show while the storyline was a secondary factor. The storyline of Paprika was paper-thin, while its visuals gave the whole shebang. However, the amazing visuals did nothing in terms of the plot. There was no significant meaning behind any artistic display, other than to portray the fact that 'This is A Dream'.

SOUND 5/10

The music that came with Paprika was honestly a bop. The action scenes that featured Paprika (the other protag) being wild and adventurous, were so fun to watch when paired with the music. However, the film lacked other sounds. There was no atmosphere when encountering quiet, damp, spooky places, or eeriness when entering an abandoned environment. The world felt dead, especially when the cast was the only living and sentient/sane people shown in the show. If this was intentional to show the blandness of the world outside of the dreams, it was done poorly because the only thought I had was "Why is the world so quiet?"

CHARACTER 6/10

The Characters in Paprika weren't the most intriguing cast. The villain being the worst of the bunch, as he was meant to be the most passionate amongst the cast. Sadly he was boring, despite having spiritual motives he didn't portray it very well. He just seems half-assed about everything, and just spoke words for the sake of words. For the other casts, it was much worse. I'll specifically focus on Atsuko, who was done dirty at the end of the movie.

She's portrayed as this calm and collected, had no development throughout the story. Until the last 20 minutes. When out of nowhere, she shows love interest vibes towards one of the characters with no explanation provided. And suddenly Paprika goes "She's grown hasn't she?" And all you can do as thee viewer is ask yourself "Where?" Where is this growth that you speak of? Nothing is leading up to that moment, it was forced in so they could include the line. "It's the inside that counts"

ENJOYMENT 6/10

Paprika was a wholly imaginative work that only Satoshi Kon can create. He creates a landscape that was beyond words. But sadly this imaginative world and amazing graphic from Mad House did nothing for the plot or the characters. I kept watching the movie hoping to see something amazing happen, or even better, to see something that makes SENSE. The main plot of the story was an absolute clown show, hiding the masterpiece that was the side plot of the detective.