From acclaimed director Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL) comes an early work of his that absolutely must be considered an anime classic - BEAUTIFUL DREAMER. The second film based on the long-running series URUSEI YATSURA ("THOSE OBNOXIOUS ALIENS"), BEAUTIFUL DREAMER is at once both a complex excursion into what is one's perception of reality, and a very funny extension of the original series.

While it is not necessary to have seen URUSEI YATSURA to appreciate this film, it sure helps. In a nutshell, an alien fleet came to destroy the Earth, but would allow the planet to survive if an Earthling could defeat one of their own in a contest. Unfortunately, the aliens selected high school lecher Ataru to be the Earth's champion against the sexy Lum in a game of "tag". Despite his best efforts, Ataru is doomed to failure because Lum can fly and fire electric blasts. But on the last day, Ataru uses his perverted wiles and manages to win the game - now Lum is completely devoted to him, much to his chagrin, and to all those around him.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMER opens with a devastated city, a ruined high school, and Lum and her friends playing in the chaos. The school clock tower tones the hour - without hands. After the credits, we cut to a hectic scene, the last night before the Tomobiki High School Festival. The school bustles as students ready their projects for the next days' opening (there's a series of amusing cameos by famous creatures roaming the hallways). We see that Ataru's class has redone their room as a "Third Reich Coffee House", complete with a real Leopard tank! Of course, while everyone works on finishing the shop, Ataru has gone missing. Rich boy Mendou discovers him inside the tank - dreaming his usual perverted dreams of girls. Disaster ensues, with school security chief Onsen-Mark winding up hanging out the window on the tank's turret. Lum makes her arrival, and discovers what Ataru's been up to - the end result is a wrecked room, scorched students, and a tank crashing through the floor. After a dressing down by a philosophical principal, Lum and Shinobu talk about boys in the school's kitchen with nurse Sakura; Lum reveals she really loves Ataru despite his faults, and being with him makes her happy. Meanwhile, Mendou and Ataru have gone out for supplies, but the city is strangely deserted...

The next day begins exactly like the previous day, except Onsen-Mark looks like hell. He confides in Sakura (after a tranquilizer/laxative mix-up!) that he feels the world is repeating itself. There is a legend of the Dream Palace, where a kindly man was taken after rescuing a turtle. When he returned to his real world, everyone he knew had vanished - time moved on for them, but not for him while he was away. Sakura is skeptical, but Onsen-Mark insists his 'deja-vu' is real - and it's not just one man, but also the entire world out of synch with time - they are all in the Dream Palace. They agree to try and break the cycle by tossing the students out of the school. However, things get even weirder. Ataru's classmates Megane and Perm find their subway returns to the school's station; the bus with Chibi and Kakugari does the same thing. Mendou and Shinobu wind up in a labyrinth that leads them back to the school. Onsen -Mark disappears. And Sakura almost finds the manipulator behind all this, barely escaping with her life. Tomobiki High being shut down, the gang decides there's only one place to go...Ataru's.

From this point, events continue to spiral out of control. The students wind up trapped inside the school as it becomes an Escher-esque nightmare. Everyone else in the city vanishes. They discover (using Mendou's Harrier) that their city is floating through space on the back of a giant turtle, and a support column looks suspiciously like Onsen-Mark. As time passes, the gang suffers few ill effects - Ataru's parents home continues to have water and electricity, and the food store remains fully stocked, yet the rest of the town falls into decay. Lum and her friends spend their days swimming, skating and having fun. But after Shinobu disappears, Sakura and Mendou (who aren't having fun) decide it's time to solve this mystery. What (and whom) they discover cause them to question their perception of 'dream-reality' and 'real-reality'; does a man dream of a butterfly, or it he the butterfly's dream? And inept Ataru is the only one who can set things right....

Wow. BEAUTIFUL DREAMER should be considered a classic by any anime fan. The zaniness of the URUSEI YATSURA series (which ran for over 100 episodes) is still there for fans, but the themes of dream vs. reality create a complexity that just enraptures the audience (as well as the characters). Ataru may seem to be a shallow rouge, but this film delves deep into his true feelings for Lum, and it's only that truth that can sets the gang free. Every character (even weirdo monk Cherry) gets a spotlight in this film, accentuating their communal plight and further drawing the audience into their world. The animation is exceptional (this was done before anime had the aid of computers); backgrounds and lighting are phenomenal. Even if you don't know the series, BEAUTIFUL DREAMER can be appreciated on it's own merits as both a wacky comedy and a deep look at the perception of what's real. For those familiar with URUSEI YATSURA, this film takes the series to a whole new level.

CPM has released this version of BEAUTIFUL DREAMER as a "collector's edition". They've included a very interesting subtitled commentary by director Oshii that should be watched to get even further perspective on the movie. There are also a gallery of artwork, previews and trailers for this film and it's predecessor. The print used is the same as CPM's original release, but this version seems to a smidge sharper and brighter. The audio is the usual fine quality, but a word of warning. BEAUTIFUL DREAMER should be watched subtitled - the characters speak in a very exaggerated style and the dub job does not do them justice. It may have the words right, but not the emotion; the dialogue seems stilted and flat. The other difference between releases is the original included a brief text history of URUSEI YATSURA (much like my intro paragraph) and a 'meet the cast', which is only clips from the film highlighting whichever character and is fairly useless in the grand scheme of the series. Because of Oshii's commentary, go for the BEAUTIFUL DREAMER collector's edition.

URUSEI YATSURA started as nothing more than a wacky teenage comedy. Somewhere along the line, the characters started to expand and make the series more than just sex jokes and juvenile escapades. BEAUTIFUL DREAMER is the culmination of this evolution. With the perfect blend of comedy and drama, both fans of the original series and those unfamiliar with 'those obnoxious aliens' can enjoy this film. Now almost 20 years old, it's still not hyperbole to consider BEAUTIFUL DREAMER as an anime classic.