Plenty of fans seem pretty uninspired by the idea of adapting Paprika, believing that the animation was so perfect for the story that there's just no point in remaking it as a live-action film. And more recently, Japanator demands that we unleash "nerd rage" on Petersen because of the following statement:
"We open it up a little bit more so it's more accessible for a wide audience, but it comes a little bit sort of 'Matrix' feel." [sic]
Look, it's pretty easy to hate on a movie, and I will give you that making this a really good film is one hell of a challenge. And I don't know what this "open it up" business is going to be about. But at least don't jump on the Matrix thing; if you were going to direct a film based on an obscure anime that most people haven't seen and you wanted to try to get mainstream audiences interested in it in a single sentence, what better way than to compare it to something they HAVE seen, and liked? As for "opening it up," I want details before I assume that it'll be terrible.
Mind, it could very easily still be terrible. Making a live-action film that captures the same feel of the animated movie is no easy task, and I certainly don't envy Petersen for taking it on. But I have enough fondness for The NeverEnding Story that I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now (even if 2004's Troy dinged my confidence a bit).
