The plot of the film is rather difficult to follow at first, but upon a second viewing becomes easier to understand. The basic story is that a company has created these devices that allow for therapists to enter their patients dreams, however after a small quantity of the devices are stolen the company has to find out who stole them and get them back. This simple plot quickly doubles over itself, as the characters never know whether they are in a dream or reality, which eventually leads to some mindfuckerry. This is not an issue however, as it leads to a lot of amazing dream sequences and animation which are truly stunning. The movie also has a subplot involving an aspiring director, which is a brilliant representation of what filmmaking truly means to the people that make our films.
One of the best aspects of the film is the soundtrack, possibly one of the most perfect ones I have ever heard in a film. I can't get the addictive soundtrack out of my head and I couldn't even understand it (the music being in Japanese). Every scene has a meaningful musical score, which greatly heightens the dreamscapes, as well as enhancing the mood and action sequences.
I love the art of animation, which is mostly because every technical aspect can be easily doctored to the director's perfection. The camerawork and lighting are genius in this film, the animation being utilized to its full potential. Scenes flow vibrantly with a perfect usage of color and style, especially during the beautiful dream scenes. The animation is overall perfect, filled with color and style that wonderfully enhance everything in the film.
I would call this film the modern equivalent to Akira, which is a massively important comparison when one is talking about anime. Everything about this film is very damn good, almost too good. I have never been the largest fan of Japanese animation, mostly because of the shit on our television, yet every little while I'm willing to put away the newest Pixar movie and try a different type of animated film. I'm incredibly grateful that I was able to choose Paprika as the once in a while anime movie I watch, especially because of how it has now opened me towards more Japanime films that I will watch in the future. This was one hell of an amazing film that I recommend that everyone watch (it looks spectacular on bluray).
Rating: 10/10
And another thing...
I hate the fact that I have spent a great deal of time trying to find foreign releases in North America. It is such a joke that for me to get my Miike (Ichi the Killer; Japan) or Park (Oldboy; Korea) fix I need to either pirate the films or find them online. When I got my copy of Battle Royale in the mail two weeks ago it wouldn't plat on my region one dvd player and I was forced to watch it on my small computer monitor. Movie currently produced in Hollywood are shit compared to some of these great Asian movies, which is why I question that I can't find these movies in North America. I know that Battle Royale has had a difficult time finding a distributor in North America, but why the hell doesn't anyone want to sell these amazing films? I have literally spent nearly two years trying to find a copy of Akira, which is a real shame considering that none of the movie retailers I shop at stock the film. All I want is for these video outlets to stock and provide these amazing foreign films, especially since I hate shopping online.
By the way, I am still working on my top animated films of the decade. The reason for this is that after completing it I discovered that it was almost entirely comprised of Pixar films, which is not the only producer of animated motion pictures. I found this a disgrace of my own intelligence, so I have spent the last few weeks attempting to watch other animated movies. You can count on the list still containing a couple of Pixar movies, but I also have a some Dreamworks films and others as well. You can look forward to this near the end of January or start of February.
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