There have been other movies which explored the subject of dreams to varying degrees...Akira Kurosawa's "Yume" (Dreams),"Dreamscape", "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Wizard of OZ" come to mind, but none have quite did it in such a surreal, fascinating and inventive way as Satoshi Kon's recent anime feature "Paprika".

Based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel, "Paprika" is part mystery/detective story and part "Alice In Wonderland" with a bit of a sci-fi element thrown in for good measure.

The title character of Paprika is a "dream detective" who is able to enter peoples' dreams to correct or resolve psychological/personal trauma by directly interacting with the dream. She is the alter-ego of Dr. Atsuko Chiba, a brilliant psychologist/scientist who helped create the "DC Mini", a device that is able to control, manipulate and record an individual's dream. Chiba has secretly appropriated the technology to aid her in her secret dream adventures as Paprika.

The bulk of the story revolves around the "DC Mini" technology being stolen and used to assault key researchers who worked on the "DC Mini" project. Detective Kogawa Toshimi (who bears a humorous resemblance to J.K. Simmon's "J. Jonah Jameson" character in the "Spider-Man" movies) assists Chiba/Paprika in her efforts to find the stolen technology.

Kon continues his exploration of the themes of reality vs. fantasy that were covered in his previous works "Sennen No Jyoyu/Millennium Actress" and "Perfect Blue" but also adds the element of "fusion" or the merging of reality with fantasy. This opens up the opportunity for Kon to create truly bizarre scenes where the dream world invades the real world (people morphing into cell phones and other objects, inanimate objects taking on human human characteristics, etc.)

The true draw for this film is the fantastic and wondrous imagery complements of the Madhouse Animation Studio and character designer Ando Masashi who create elaborately detailed images, drawing from a variety of sources (traditional Japanese dolls, Buddhist statutes, European ceramic figurines, plastic toys).

It's amazing how Kon was able to incorporate and explore a lot of the common dream themes in the film (flying, falling, childhood toys, mirrored reflections, metamorphosis, running) as well as some of the Jungian archetypes (shadow, Anima, Animus). The medium of animation is the perfect vehicle suited to bring this imagery to film.

Hirasawa Susumu's musical score adds to the fantasy with its fusion of various musical styles and influences.

The voice work is also quite stellar, bringing together a host of veteran "seiyuu" talents like Hayashibara Megumi, Otsuka Akio, Yamadera Koichi, Furuya Toru, and Emori Toru.

While "Perfect Blue" still remains my favorite Kon project, "Paprika" was a pleasantly enjoyable and wonderful surprise and further solidifies Kon's growing reputation as a truly innovative animation director in the same vain as Miyazaki Hayao, John Lasseter and Oshii Mamoru.

I saw this two days ago at the New York Film Festival.

The plot: What happens when we acquire technology that allows us to migrate the boundary between dreams & reality, and what happens when that boundary blurs?

The Animation: Stunning; Madhouse always does good work and Kon's movies always produce some fun reality bending sequences.

The Music: Susumu Hirasawa who did the Paranoia Agent soundtrack came up with the score here too. The opening song is a particularly infectious number. It makes you smiley. It's like the opening song from Paranoia Agent on steroids. I really could not get the grin off my face till the beginning sequence ended.

The Cast: The voice cast is headed by Megumi Hayashibara, probably the most prolific and well known female seiyuu ever, with roles such as Rei Ayanami (Evangelion), Lina Inverse (Slayers), and Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop) to her credit. Akio Ohtsuka and Koichi Yamadera, Batou & Togusa of Ghost in the Shell fame, both play major roles as well. All do a fabulous job as usual, but Hayashibara really shines in her Paprika role.

This film has great animation, music & actors, but the plot is really just a thin veneer for the lucid dreaming sequences that permeate so much of Satoshi Kon's work. I still recommend seeing it because it's a really light fun film, but I don't think it adds up to being more than the sum of some really great parts. I think this one needs to be enjoyed in pieces rather than as a whole.

Just back from the New York Film Festival Screening of Satoshi Kon's Paprika.

Kon's new film is not the dark mind warps of Perfect Blue or Paranoia Agent, this is closer to blending of real and unreal of Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers light and airy touches. Its got its darkness but its mostly a light thriller.

(I'm not going to go into a discussion of specifics concerning the plot, since I was told things by reviews I read prior to seeing the film which, while they didn't reveal a great deal, spoiled just enough to take the wonder off some of the story and images) The plot concerns a device called a DC Mini which allows people to enter other peoples dreams. It also allows your dreams to be recorded for play back. Three of the revolutionary devices are stolen before they could be encoded with a software that will prevent total access to anyone at anytime, which means that anyone with the devices can not only enter anyone's dreams at anytime, but also enter there mind and put them into a dream of their choosing. Unfortunately the head of the project suddenly begins spouting nonsense (the result of being dropped in the dream of a mental patient) and before anyone can stop him he leaps from a high window. The race is on, with our heroes getting the help of a mysterious girl named Paprika, who seems to be able to move with in dreams in ways that are completely unnatural.

I liked this movie. It takes a while to get going but once it does its really good (it has a gangbusters last third). Kon blends the real and the dream in ways that can only be done through animation (see his earlier films for how good he is at it). Its wonderfully done, so much so that you can never be sure whats real and whats not, as one character says late in the film, "is this real or is it a dream?" In the end you can not tell, especially as the worlds begin to overlap. I know for some, myself included, the plot line may seem a bit of been there and done that (ie Dreamscape) but Kon's visual sense pushes the film from a run of the mill retread into something worth going out and seeing.(As I said I'm not going to go into some of the wild things that Kon has cooked up for his dream world since somethings should remain a surprise.) For those looking for some of the darkness of Kon's Perfect Blue or Paranoia Agent, its not really here, actually the movie is frequently very funny. Certainly some of the dream imagery can be frightening and disturbing in a not normal (dream)) sort of way, but other than one moment where a villain shows how he can control anything in the dream world, there isn't anything thats mind twistingly scary. (Though that one moment is sure to send shivers up and down most peoples backs) This is just a good little fantastical thriller.

At this point I have to make a confession. This movie reduced to tears a couple of times. There are a couple of moments when this movie is like a shot of pure joy. The title sequence with its J-Pop ear worm of a song had the tears rolling down my face. Later when Paprika dives into a dream and rides a cloud the marriage of music and image, however fleeting had me blissed out. Best of all the films exploration of who we are underneath it all will make everyone grin from ear to ear.

See this movie. Its a good little thriller. Its not the best thing that director Satoshi Kon has done, but its a good time in the movies (which it celebrates).