Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, stylish, thought-provoking. But ultimately flat.
Review: An extremely stylish film with great production values, but far too abridged in movie form. It only runs 78 minutes (a far cry from the 115 minutes listed in the specifications here as of this review!), and the story's depth and scope suffers quite obviously in its adaptation to this media because of its relative brevity, equally obviously due to the expense and effort involved in developing animation of this quality. One gets the unavoidable sense that there's an incredible story behind Ghost in the Shell, easily worth several hours of storytelling, but that its surface is only barely scratched in this film. Events happen too quickly, too little is explained beforehand or afterward, and the final credits start scrolling before much of real substance has taken place and before the viewer knows what's really happening. I consider it really unfortunate; a true injustice to the story's potential, but unfortunately nothing new to anime adaptations (see Battle Angel Alita, for another, even better example). Ultimately, readers of this review will want the answer to one basic question: is it worth owning? Sadly, in my view it isn't; while the audience's glimpse of its beautiful, stylish cyberpunk world is not without its rewards, it is ultimately too brief and disjointed to have continued viewing value, especially for those who are not intimately familiar with the original manga (comic book). You may, quite reasonably, disagree and enjoy this film for whatever it does bring to the table, in which case you would find it worth its purchase price. If, however, like me, you find that unfinished potential animation masterpieces like Battle Angel Alita and Lord of the Rings are more a source of mourning than enjoyment, you'd do best to steer clear of buying this DVD, and simply rent it.
Rating: 
Summary: A cut above typical anime
Review: This is with out a doubt one of if not the best animes I have ever seen. It has everything I'm looking for in an anime: intregueing characters, an awsome plot, lots of action, and outstanding visuals. The animation its self could garner this move a 5 star rateing. Everything is extremely fluid and detailed. This film uses an interesting mix of both computer generated animation and traditional cell animation. The result is a visual style that is far superior to anything Disney has put out so far. Kusanagi's tour of the city examplifies what i'm trying to say guite well. The plot is top notch. Though some have acussed it of being a bit to phlisopical, I belive those statments are just to unfounded. The plot is very deep. In fact I myself didn't understand everything untill I had seen it three times. Much like the matrix it has to do with what is real, and how our perceptions of reality can be drasticly altered. This is an anime so there is some great action in it. My favorite scenes are battle with the tank and the chase scene involving the ghost half human. The chararcters are also excellent. Kusangi is one of the most interesting women in anime. Baeto is also a great character. He plays the voice of sanity in an insane world. All and all this is excellent anime for mature audiences. Oh yes I feel it nessacary to give that obligatory warning. This one has a good amount of nudity, though none of it is erotic, and some very graphic violence. If your an anime fan you have to see Ghost in the Shell. It's a true masterpeace from Mamoru Oshi.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectual, existential action anime
Review: An existential action anime? That's what Ghost In The Shell, a.k.a. Kokakukidotai (Shell Mobile Force) is, with animation sporting top-of-the-line computer imagery in the Bladerunner-like metropolis of Newport, but that's secondary compared to the underlying intellectual theme.Major Kusanagi Motoko is a skillfully trained cyborg assassin in Newport's Section 9, who's taking out a diplomat illegally trying to give immunity to a listed programmer, demonstrates her training, including an amazing moment when she dives off a building, picks off her target, and via a thermoptic camouflage (i.e. portable cloaking device), vanishes from sight. She and the members of her team, consisting of the mostly human Togusa, Ichikawa, and Batou, a burly no-nonsense blond cyborg with electronic eye implants, are trying to track down the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master is a master hacker who hacks into people's brains and uses them for his dirty work, presumably to carry out espionage or terrorism, leaving his puppets no memory of their infiltration. One of his puppets keeps using a public computer to try to infiltrate the brain of his wife, who is divorcing him and wants custody of their child. When he's picked up, he is told by Section 9 that his wife, child, and divorce are all false memories imprinted by the Puppet Master, causing further distress to the man when he is told the fake memories can't be erased. However, there are two conflicts going on. One is Kusanagi's mission to hunt down the Puppet Master. The other and the one with a deeper meaning is the search for her identity within the scheme of a whole, or rather, something beyond her individual self, highlighted by her words taken from the Book of Corinthians: "For now we through a glass, darkly." This reflects an earlier statement when she says in observation of a victim of the Puppet Master, "all data that exists is both fantasy and reality. Whichever it is, the data a person collects in a lifetime is a tiny bit compared to the whole." A postmodernist flair is introduced when the Puppet Master says "While memories may as well be the same as fantasy, it is by these memories that mankind exists." The question thus is, is it possible for the soul to exist in a highly technological world, where special operatives have cyborg shells, metabolic control systems, ESP, and cyber-brains?
The search is also symbolized when she surfaces, and the animated image of her rising up to meet her reflection, representing her true self. She wonders if she has a ghost, an animating soul or spirit. In looking at the construction of her body in the opening credits, one sees that she's heavily mechanized, with an outer layer of flesh surrounding her. Her attempt at defining the self begins with a unique face, voice, childhood memories, feelings for the future, and the set of mental processes producing a consciousness that is "me." However, upon a discovery involving the Puppet Master, she further worries that what if there wasn't a real "me," that "I believe I exist based only on what my environment tells me. ... What if a computer brain can generate a ghost and harbor a soul? On what basis then do I believe in myself?" In other words, what if there is no higher power to connect to, bringing into mind the word "religion," which means "to reconnect to." The action sequences aren't extreme, ultraviolent, or gratuitous in the chase sequences, but are moderate, that is until the heavy artillery is brought out, at which point glass, metal, and rock starts to fly. A very intelligent, thought-provoking, one-of-a-kind existential, soul-searching anime, with Kusanagi despite its cyborg dominance showing some human traits.
Rating: 
Summary: A worthwhile premise
Review: The basic question is worth asking. Start with a world of natural and synthetic bodies, natural and synthetic thoughts, and all combinations along both axes. What percentage of each does it take for some mind in some body to be human? The lead character is well placed to ask the question. She convincingly answers the question in her own case. The plot that carries her along is a man(?)-hunt in a futuristic urban landscape. For all its skyscrapers and other features, the city still has its crowded streets, banners, and open store fronts. They are part of the answer, functioning human communities in a man-made physical environment. The animation was uniformly good throughout, but I found the script to have a choppy pace. There were long, leisurely canal rides between the chases and shooting, and long philosophical monologues. As long as the director chose an action movie for a vehicle, I would have preferred to see the basic questions acted out rather than spoken. This anime well done, but the plot is too inconsistent for me to call it great. It's a good one, though, and I keep coming back to it.
Rating:
Summary: Complete Eye Candy
Review: This anime has by far the best animation and art work ever. It takes an extremely close second to Akira. But unlike Akira, every character has its own look (I dunno about you, but it got hard to tell between characters in Akira). Sound is incredible in this anime. While sound usually never takes a major role in Japanimation, Ghost in the Shell proves it does. There is only one thing wrong with the movie...plot...now don't get me wrong, the plot is by far one of the most intellectual and genius plots you could ever imagine, but few will only understand it if you have read the manga. I unfortunately did not, so like Mission: Impossible (a movie you had to see like 3 times to understand everything) Ghost in the Shell has to be watched more than once to let everything sink in. My 3rd time watching it, I understood it and appreciated its genius and cleverness...This will be a classic for generations along with Akira and Ninja Scroll. I highly recommend this anime if you want action and well thought out plot. Both subtitled and dubbed are excellent, I recommend both of them.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone
Review: Ghost in the Shell is a very profound anime, its definitely not for everyone. The action comes in bits and pieces, so action fans will be disappointed, the technology in the anime is mind-boggling, and will no doubt wow techies. But the ending would probably register a "HUH?!" to most entry-level viewers, since the main theme of the story is not really what you'd think it is watching the whole show(don't wanna spoil it for u :P). I'd personally reccommend it to someone who can sit through the whole movie, and at the end of it still ponder about the issues the movie brought up.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece, more intriguing than mainstream anime.
Review: I read the reviews on this page about Ghost in the Shell. Some people do not appreciate what this film is about. It is totally different from general anime, such as Gundam, Tenchi, Eva or even Pokemon. what you have here is a very serious, groundbreaking film, worthy of international critical acclaim. As well, some people here say that the subject has been visited many times, i.e. robots having human intelligence, being able to understand emotion. WRONG. This movie was made starting in 1994, and the story was based on life (stored as computer information) travelling over the internet, and existing in the internet. This was an amazing story for a time where people were just beginning to pick up the internet. The action sequences in this film may be few, but they are exceptional, including amazing visuals and real gunshot sounds. the story is very phylosophical, but not so that not every person could understand, but bordering on intelectualism and fantasy. The scenery is well-drawn, even though you see each for only a couple of moments. Overall, I would say that this is one of greatest animation films I have ever seen. See it.
Rating:
Summary: AWSOME TIMES 5!
Review: Well, how can i start. Awsome out the Ying-Yang!! Well, I've been an anime fan for about a year now, and I actually have just watched this movie recently. The sci-fi genre of anime is broad and expansive, and sometimes its hard to pick out those titles that, well, stand out. This is one of those few and far between titles that does stand out. I reccomend that any fan of anime, or anyone in general, watch this title. It will leave you thinking for hours on end about how this story could really happen and what if it DID happen. Not to draw this review out into deep dark waters of the future, so I've said it once and I'll say it again, watch this title.
Rating:
Summary: The number one anime of all time.
Review: Ghost in the Shell is the perfect movie if you love animes, it has a great story line, stunning animation, and its based off of Shirow Masamune's Ghost in the Shell manga. One of the best things about this movie is the way Mamoru Oshii tells the story, (he is one of my favorite directors)he is such a deep story teller, if you've seen some of his other movies like Jin-Roh the wolf brigade or Patlabor 1&2 you will understand what i'm talking about, and for the people that don't understand just think of it this way when you watch this movie make sure to pay atention to what is going on it may not make to much sence the first time you watch it so make sure to watch it a secound time to get the full effect of the movie, and hopefully you will come to love the movie as much as i do.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Enough Background
Review: "Ghost in the Shell" is a rather famous animated film- one which has influenced (and been influenced by) a lot of western science fiction. According to the Wachowski brothers, this film (and many other anime movies) greatly affected their ideas for "The Matrix".
This movie, like countless others before and since, ponders the questions of "what is reality?" and "what is the individual?". This is not new ground. The 1982 Ridley Scott film "Blade Runner" (the Director's Cut) covered all this same territory with considerably more style and drama.
The (mostly) good news:
For fans of animation, "Ghost" is not up to the standards of a Miyazaki movie, but it is a worthy purchase. There were some scenes in which the producers were clearly trying to save money, but they were few and far between. CG effects were used sparsely, but blended seemlessly into the cel animation.
The Japanese voice-over is solid but, as is often the case, the English version is just awful. I couldn't even watch the entire film in English a single time.
The bad news:
Like most anime, this movie is based upon a lengthy manga series and, at less than one and a half hours, it doesn't offer any help to those (like me) who aren't familiar with it. There just isn't much (or any) background information put into the film. In some cases, the uninitiated viewer won't find out some details they should know at the beginning until the movie is almost over. In other cases, it's apparent that important details are never covered.
This tendency to cater toward the manga fans also presents itself in the area of character development. Without background, I found it difficult to care about the characters or their mission. I never felt involved with the story or empathized with anyone in it. This is in stark contrast to, again, "Blade Runner", which clocked in at just about two hours but really wrapped me up in its world and characters long before the end.
From what I hear, this is generally considered a "deep" film, among fans of anime, at least. It certainly was not a mindless action film, but it covered ground that was well-tread 50 years ago, let alone in 1996. Most of the philosophy took the form of unrealistically lengthy conversations between characters. The second and third "Matrix" installments came under fire for doing what poor authors everywhere do: 'telling, not showing'. "Ghost in the Shell" was more guilty of that error than any other science fiction film I've seen yet, including the "Matrix" trilogy.
One could mention how unlikely/implausible the story was as well, but that's an issue that could be taken with fully half of the science fiction movies, books, and short stories out there.
In short, fans of the manga may find some enjoyment in seeing their favorite characters put into action. For those new to this world, however, "Ghost" is rather sparse and shallow.
|
