No one can conjure fantasy worlds quite like the Japanese.

Paprika is the latest gem by animation master Satoshi Kon whose previous works like Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers had — together with Hayao Miyazaki's classics like Spirited Away — helped bring worldwide acclaim and attention to Japanese animation. Indeed, this latest film will only serve to confirm his genius and talent.

This superb sci-fi tale revolves around a new device invented by a group of scientists in a laboratory. The device actually lets you enter someone's dreams and shape those dreams. So when one of the devices is stolen from the lab, strange things begin to happen. Dreams and reality begin to merge and weird creatures start to walk around in public. The world, in short, will never be the same again...

Paprika conjures a world so bizarre, fantastical and magical that you would be hard-pressed to describe it in a single word. You sit there mouth-agape, completely amazed at the imaginative prowess of its creators. And then you wonder why more cartoons can't be like this one.