The Simpsons Movie is almost locked as the second nominee.

The question is the third. It'll be between Beowulf and Bee Movie.

What the hell is Paprika? And why should I care?

It wasn't even released this year!

And, most japanese animated films I've seen, most of them seem to take a lot of risks, which is usually better for the story, but with American animated films, they have to keep it somewhat simple, as so it can be marketable.

Thus, what Ratatouille has done, in our marketplace, is fantastic.

Mononoke. You keep missing an n and it's hurting my being.
Of course two scenes completely out of context won't be very good (not in Paprika's case, of course, I think you're totally insane). The trailer does a much better job at enticing than 2 random scenes. Which were they, btw? The parade and what?
Methinks you need to see more Miyazaki and, like I said, more Kon. I forgot to mention the genius series that is Paranoia Agent. The best detective series ever, bar none.
See Grave of the Fireflies, too, while I'm telling you to see things. You're a history buff, you'll appreciate a WWII movie told from a non-military Japanese perspective.



Paprika is the story of Chiba Atsuko, dream detective, and real-life detective Kogawa Toshimi trying to find out who stole the dream machine that Atsuko uses, which is causing dreams and waking life to merge, fucking up the world.
It was released on May 25th in New York and June 1st in LA. It later expanded.
It's also one of the most brilliant films ever, animated or otherwise.

Sounds like Japanese garbage.

Based on that desciption, I am not impressed.

By the way, the two scenes I have seen were this one with a giant doll thingy, and the other was the finale with some nightmarish deomn monster, I had to say the ideas seem to lend themselves too far to the metaphorical, but once again it isn't worth to judge it without seeing it.

It is also pointless to argue with you, no one wins.

Like he said, of course you aren't going to be impressed. He just summed up ninety minutes of beautiful, complex film from one of the most intelligent, imaginative, brilliant directors alive, in a single line. It's like saying you're not impressed when someone tells you Citizen Kane is about a guy interviewing friends of a dead guy to find out what that dead guy meant by his last words. Not impressed with that? Fine. Doesn't make the film any less wonderful.

And it sounds like you saw clips from two of the scenes that most require context...it's understandable to think "that was weird" but not acceptable to write off the film based upon it.

Also, to clarify, I don't think there's any arguing really going on in this thread. We all pretty much agree Ratatouille is going to win the Oscar, and that the Simpsons Movie and something else will be 2 and 3. The whole Paprika thing is just a discussion about how, yknow, it's so much better than anything else. :O :O :o :o

Fine, I will see it, but when and how is the question now.

So far I mildly liked Princess Mononoke and loved Spirited Away, so I am not biast against Japanese films, either in favor of it (like Finwe, though it is more of an educated biasm so it really doesn't count) or against it (like most ignorant Americans).

Don't misunderstand me, either, Darth Indianetc.
Watch what you want. I honestly don't even know/remember what your stance in this thread is.* I'm not trying to pressure you one way or another. I'm just backing up Finwë insofar as the movie is brilliant and a couple random clips or a blanket synopsis are not nearly enough to judge it on.

If you do decide to look into this film when it hits DVD, great...I can't imagine you'll be disappointed...at the very least, to quote s snack, you'll surely be 'sucked into [it's] environment'. (I haven't yet found a Satoshi Kon film featuring an uninvolving world, and this film is the most creatively and engagingly realized.) But if you end up never seeing the film, that too, won't bother me. Just, yknow, realize that viewing random scenes isn't really enough to make a call in quality.**

* In the process of writing this, I went back and read how this whole discussion started. I think in general, the initial post and some subsequent ones were pretty absurd, but most of it has been covered sufficiently, and you've been quite rational, or at least reasonable, about others' opinions on yr ideas, so that's cool.

** And, to be fair, you have basically said as much from the first post, so you obviously realize this. So I guess, technically, everything I've said has been little use...you did all my work before the discussion started. But hey...it's all still true. :o

Ratatouille > Any Other Animated Film Ever Made.

Your last post was ignored for a reason.

Best animated movie ever? No. Best of the year? Yes. (But keep in mind, since I know it will probably be said, I haven't seen Paprika.)

Is Paprika eligible? I thought the studio had released it in L.A. around November in hopes of getting it nominated since they were expecting 5 nominees...and then it backfired when Arthur and the Invisibles ended up not being eligible for the award, which meant only 3 films could be nominated.

Did the limited release not end happening?

Either way it looks...interesting and the reviews are really good. Any chance we could have 5 nominees this year? It's great to see we've had about 4-5 films so far this year that are arguably better than almost all films released last year.

Personally I think it is the best Animated Film ever, I found it more well written than Spirited Away and more inspiring than most live-action films, and its goal to inspire you is not necisarrily in cooking, but to not be cynical.

I didn't think it was as good as Beauty and the Beast, which I see as the best animated movie ever made. I didn't even think it was Pixar's best (I thought Incredibles and Nemo were both just a bit better).

Nemo is a very good film (an A- for me), but its comedy angle always felt a bit too forced at times. It had its emotional moments, but didn't pull it off as well as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, or Pixar's most emotional film, Monsters Inc., but it is a very fun film.

Beauty and the Beast is a film i come around to appreciate more and more, but still it isn't as round as a Pixar film or even The Jungle Book which is if anything oddly round (there is one scene in that film that was actually well written for an animated film of that time period).

Rod is right, Paprika is probably not eligible, it was eligible last year...

http://animatedfilms.suite101.com/artic ... ed_release

IMDB confirms that it opened Nov 20 2006 in Los Angeles.

There seems to be no plan for it to go "wide" at this time.

Oh, and while I won't begrudge Rat its frontrunner status, based on what is being said about people who have seen more footage of Beowulf, it would be interesting to see if starts fighting for a win. I think at this point it's the logical third nomination and it looks rather edgy.

If it gets great reviews, it could really, really make some waves against Rat, which may be good (I unfortunately haven't seen it) but seems to be rather standard Pixar fare.

I really can't see Beowulf making it, mainly because the branch appears to be biased against motion-capture films that aim for photo-realism. Waking Life and The Polar Express were thought to be locks in their respective years, yet were knocked out by mediocre CGI fare (Jimmy Neutron and Shark Tale respectively). The lone exception would be Happy Feet, though that was a lock due to the sheer weakness of the category last year, and the humans were such a small part of it. I'll stick with Bee Movie/Ratatouille/Simpsons unless Beowulf gets REALLY good reviews, which I honestly doubt will happen (The Polar Express only got 56% on RT and 61 on MC).

I tend to agree with Webby on this - RAT is deff. the best animated movie this year (no I havent seen paprika yet either Finwe ) but not the best ever - BATB will always be the best american animated movie....

There's a reason Japanese animated films haven't made it into American mainstream...

Because they're garbage.

It's more that they are strange.

Whether they are garbage or not... meh.

I myself have never been fond of japanese animation. Too strange for me.

Either that, or your opinion of them is garbage, or even more likely ill-informed...

Ill informed? When you watch a movie... and it's garbage... it's experience of seeing that movie that I come to the conclusion that it sucks. People say movies suck all the time, but when I say they suck, I'm ill informed.

How is this even a question anymore? Ratatouille is the biggest lock to win since BATB.