Rent Paprika (2006)

A fun, psychedelic anime hit - Paprika review by BW

A decent anime feature. What is dream and what is reality? A team of Japanese engineers prototype a therapeutic tool for getting into people's dreams. Then the machine gets stolen and a lot of chaos begins to unfold. There are some exhilarating scenes here with some marked references to Japanese movie history and classic film technique.

I really enjoyed it. The film is a whirlwind of colour and spectacle. The plot is convoluted and challenging. I was lost but really it's kind of 'whose dream are we in now?' all the way through. Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' is a later, better known film which has the same premise or plot. Paprika is our guide through these strange dreams and she is a bright and flirtatious anime girl, a bit of a Peter Pan figure. There's a reference to 'Tinkerbell', actually, while at another point she takes on the costume of 'Monkey' (as in the Ming dynasty novel and 70s TV series), which is cool.

Paprika is a lot of fun. You're more likely to get lost (and potentially even bored) by the plot than have your view of reality profoundly transformed, I suppose, but that could be said of many films. If you enjoy animated features Paprika should be a joy.