New York Times
"[E]ye-popping....[The film] offers continued evidence that Japanese animators are reaching for the moon..." 10/06/2006 p.E11Box Office
"[A] thoroughly entertaining piece of Japanese anime....The movie handles themes concerning cyber technology, dreaming and filmmaking with mischievous aplomb." 12/01/2006 p.74 New York Times
"[A] gorgeous riot of future-shock ideas and brightly animated imagery....A mind-twisting, eye-tickling wonder..." 05/25/2007 p.E15 Entertainment Weekly
"Kon mixes visual beauty with disorienting perspectives for a cautionary tale..." -- Grade: A- 06/08/2007 p.63 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Kong makes an art of Japanese anim....Fiercely provocative..." 06/14/2007 p.112 Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "The dream sequences that spiral through the film have the transitory strangeness of ETERNAL SUNSHINE and create an engrossing plot able to straddle both reality and fantasy." 05/01/2008 p.80 Eye Weekly 10 of 10
No parade has ever looked as jolly or as terrifying as the one that trundles through some of the trippiest scenes in Satoshi Kon's extremely trippy Paprika: multi-coloured confetti rains down on a procession that includes giant frogs, several walking kitchen appliances, assorted dolls and teddy bears, a few cars and a sashaying Statue of Liberty...Paprika even contains the sly suggestion that this strange and dangerous device already exists - in fact, we subject ourselves to its effects on a regular basis, whether in darkened multiplexes or at home in front of the TV. In the cop's recurring dream, he and Paprika find themselves variously situated in a suspense thriller, a romantic comedy and a Tarzan movie - what viewer hasn't imagined the same? In other scenes, characters jump into movie screens and through camera lenses, actions that playfully illustrate how movies function as a shared fantasy life for their viewers or, in more troubling instances, a collective unconscious teeming with ugly anxieties and repressed desires...But all my fancy talk can't convey just how much fun it is to watch Paprika - few films this year are likely to be as thrillingly inventive. It'll have you wanting to join that cheery procession against your better judgment. - Jason Anderson
Reel.com 8 of 10
All hell breaks loose at the circus for Tokyo police detective Kogawa (Akio Otsuka) when he finds himself pursued by clowns, acrobats, and more, and all mysteriously resembling him. He narrowly escapes into an elevator where more danger awaits, a Tarzan tableau on one floor, a garroting thug on another, until he finally he reaches the 17th floor where a corpse decorates the hallway...This 'toon for the grownup set is mostly enormously charming, at least until Paprika becomes ensnared in a dangerous dream. The threat of sexual violence casts a pall at the point. It is ugly and in a movie that otherwise honors women with its two strong heroines (even if they are essentially one person), its sudden appearance is shocking. The sequence is not long, but it plays like a slap in the face. Like the DC-Mini thief, the sequence serves to hijack a dream, in this case the dream that is the movie. Luckily, the fun returns with Paprika's smashing climax, but what could have been an altogether exhilarating ride is instead but a minor pleasure undercut by a repugnant shadow. - Pam Grady
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