67
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanStrange, stylish and intelligent, this is a rare anime film that delivers on its Eastern promise.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleBob GrahamSan Francisco ChronicleBob GrahamPerfect Blue manages, through animation, to take the thriller, media fascination, psychological insight and pop culture and stand them all on their heads.
- 75Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeSatoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue is a prescient vision of a modern world defined by media oversaturation and social media validation.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovContemporary adult themes that resonate as much as those in Perfect Blue (stalking, the cult of celebrity) have become increasingly rare in this animated genre better known for tentacled demons and cute forest sprites; it's refreshing to be reminded that not everything in anime need feature that lovable scamp Pikachu, either.
- 67The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasWith its fluidly changeable surfaces, animation may be the ideal medium for confronting the public's growing uncertainty with reality, but Perfect Blue is a missed opportunity, too shallow and exploitative to be taken seriously.
- 63San Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisSan Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisThe art direction is reliably vivid and hyperreal, but director Satoshi Kon and company can't articulate how mentally taxed Mima is without confusing us.
- 60Chicago ReaderLisa AlspectorChicago ReaderLisa AlspectorThis engrossing animated thriller (2000) somehow displays realist gore, nudity, and sexual violence in a tone not too far from that of a children’s adventure; its innocence stems in part from the convincing naivete of the heroine.
- 60VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyForsaking the usual anime fantasy terrain for a straight suspense plot that might easily have been executed in live-action form, director Satoshi Kon's debut pic, "Perfect Blue," is a psychological thriller that intrigues without quite hitting the bull's-eye.
- 50The New York TimesAnita GatesThe New York TimesAnita GatesWith smarter dialogue, it might have made a fascinating film.
- 50Film ThreatMerle BertrandFilm ThreatMerle BertrandWhat starts out as a fairly conventional and effective stalker drama with a cyber-twist, soon gets too cute with its dreams within dreams set pieces and shifting realities. It’s kinda nifty at first, but Kon just keeps piling it on until you just roll your eyes, throw up your hands, and scream, “Enough!”