My brother was shopping around for my birthday, when he happened upon the film Paprika in the store. Caught by the gorgeous artwork and the synopsis on the back, he was convinced I'd enjoy the movie. I, on the other hand, was skeptical. Oh, I enjoy anime, but I'm very picky about what I watch.
I'm glad I didn't hesitate to open the film up and pop it in my DVD player. First of all, my DVD player is old and cranky and it randomly decides what it will and won't play. But it played Paprika beautifully. And speaking of beautiful, this film is one beautiful spark of imagery after another. A visually stunning piece, at least on par with a true classic and a favorite of mine since early childhood, The Wizard of Oz. As I already mentioned, the box art was gorgeous.
Paprika doesn't disappoint visually, in the least. As an artist, I found myself admiring technique and the seamless flow between dreams and reality. The use of color is exquisite, subtle and masterful. Even the English voice actors were wonderful, and for once, a dub of English used almost word for word the translations, replacing only the occasional word, and even then, only rarely. Words were changed, but perhaps only one line's actual context was changed in the entire film.
There are several subtitle options, which I find useful for watching films with friends who don't natively speak English. If I just turn the subtitles on, my friends can follow along more easily. And the nerd in me wanted to see HOW drastically the translation was changed. As stated before, much of the time, it's word for word! If you watch much in the way of anime, you KNOW how rare that is, in a dub, let alone the voice acting, which was always believable.
And let's not forget the music. A good film score will blend so seamlessly with the scene that you notice it rarely. Such is the case with Paprika. That's not to say that the music wasn't worth attention, because it was beautiful from start to finish. From the opening credits to the end credits, the music embodies the story, embracing the art fully, but it's crafted to avoid drawing attention to itself, making it all the more wonderful, listening to it on its own.
All in all, this film is worth the buy, and I anticipate watching it many times, especially if I'm feeling down or uninspired. Who can feel uninspired with a perky gal like Paprika getting into adventure? Though I didn't get to watch it ON my birthday, it made my birthday celebration complete!
I'm glad I didn't hesitate to open the film up and pop it in my DVD player. First of all, my DVD player is old and cranky and it randomly decides what it will and won't play. But it played Paprika beautifully. And speaking of beautiful, this film is one beautiful spark of imagery after another. A visually stunning piece, at least on par with a true classic and a favorite of mine since early childhood, The Wizard of Oz. As I already mentioned, the box art was gorgeous.
Paprika doesn't disappoint visually, in the least. As an artist, I found myself admiring technique and the seamless flow between dreams and reality. The use of color is exquisite, subtle and masterful. Even the English voice actors were wonderful, and for once, a dub of English used almost word for word the translations, replacing only the occasional word, and even then, only rarely. Words were changed, but perhaps only one line's actual context was changed in the entire film.
There are several subtitle options, which I find useful for watching films with friends who don't natively speak English. If I just turn the subtitles on, my friends can follow along more easily. And the nerd in me wanted to see HOW drastically the translation was changed. As stated before, much of the time, it's word for word! If you watch much in the way of anime, you KNOW how rare that is, in a dub, let alone the voice acting, which was always believable.
And let's not forget the music. A good film score will blend so seamlessly with the scene that you notice it rarely. Such is the case with Paprika. That's not to say that the music wasn't worth attention, because it was beautiful from start to finish. From the opening credits to the end credits, the music embodies the story, embracing the art fully, but it's crafted to avoid drawing attention to itself, making it all the more wonderful, listening to it on its own.
All in all, this film is worth the buy, and I anticipate watching it many times, especially if I'm feeling down or uninspired. Who can feel uninspired with a perky gal like Paprika getting into adventure? Though I didn't get to watch it ON my birthday, it made my birthday celebration complete!