Rating: 
Summary: Oh my God, what an incredible movie !!!
Review: I saw this anime by accident on late night television while half zombied with a bad cold, not being able to sleep because I was so miserable. I couldn't find anything to watch, and was channel flicking, and came upon the opening scene of Ghost in the Shell. I removed my finger from the remote as I watched the Major falling earthward, and from that moment forward, I forgot all about my cold, I forgot about the misery I was in, heck - I probably forgot to blow my running nose I was so completely entranced and involved in this movie! Ghost in the Shell was a mindblowing visual experience like nothing I had ever seen before. It was the very first Anime I had ever seen, other than commercial clips advertising some Pokemon movie or other on TV, which I was definitely NOT interested in seeing. I stared agape as scene after beautiful scene rolled past in fluid, beautiful, artistic splendor. I listened as the background music and sound effects floated through my eardrums like perfectly synchronized instruments seamlessly meshing with the visuals. The movie just kept getting better and better, and by the time the "going to work" sequence was halfway through, I was in sheer ecstasy. I have always considered myself to be a connoisseur of cinema and have a DVD library of only about 20 carefully selected movies out of thousands I have seen to date, but after seeing Ghost in the Shell, everything I thought I knew about what makes a fine piece of cinema flew out the window. This piece of sheer movie making artwork was done so fine, so flawlessly, so perfectly, that nothing else in my library even comes close. Walt Disney? Don't make me laugh! Nothing Disney ever saw in his most vivid dreams could match 1 perfectly animated cel of Oshii's masterpiece. Oh yeah, did I mention that this was an incredible movie? Well, I take that back. This is a superb, exquisite, rapturous delight of a movie that not only takes my breath away every time I view it, but has absolutely stunned everybody I have had the opportunity to show it to. Ghost in the Shell was my own introduction to the world of Anime, and although I have since found several other gems among the anime movies available, none of the anime I have yet viewed has affected me in quite the way that Ghost did or been of quite the same caliber of work. Thank you, Mr. Oshii, I most eagerly await your next project. Thank you Mr. Oshii, thank you VERY much!
Rating:
Summary: Must see
Review: I wasn't familiar with Anime or Manga, Japanimation and one of my friends wanted me to see this, With a lot of hesitation,reluctance and with nothing better to do I sat down to see this. On first viewing I found it Intriguing,Mesmerizing, Interesting, Philosophical and incredibly Disturbing. The main character in my mind was so life like that I wanted to find her somewhere..a Major Kutsanagi in our midst.This film is incredible cinema and just goes to show how talented people can make the most if. Not for everyone ,some might find it boring,others might find it too long. But it is interesting nonetheless and if the first 10 to 15 mins intrigue you...your going to love this. I noticed some of Mamoru Oshi's shots that he has directed animation wise are direct rip offs off Ron Frick's Baraka, another great film. Baraka is a film of illuminating essence in its own right and I think Ghost In the Shell comes increasingly close. ranks highly on my list.
Rating: 
Summary: Awful Dub... Buy english subtitled verision
Review: This dub is awful... You miss the entire point of the story (which is very profound). On this version Moltoko just seems like a confused woman. Not the profound, and brilliant being that she was in the english subtitled version. If you ever saw both versions of this movie you would NEVER trust another dub again. The storyline is great (5 stars), but the translation is just silly (0 stars). It makes the movie seem like a cop flick rather than an anime tale. Buy the SUBTITLED VERSION and watch this story come alive.. get.to/thejewel.com
Rating:
Summary: A Must See
Review: Great on VHS and even better on DVD wit all the unique features. Great story and animation. One of the few Anime I would highly reccomend. You will be blown away trust me.
Rating:
Summary: More than just action
Review: Ghost in the Shell is engaging and exciting on all levels. It goes beyond the typical action driven anime and gives you an interesting story. To me, the tell tail sign of a good movie is whether I am still thinking about it the next day. Ghost achieved this. I love the idea of a consciousness spawned out of the net that strives to merge the best parts of human and computer intelligence. The movie delves into the philosophy of being human without getting bogged down in it and becoming overly preachy. This is by no means just an intellectual film. The animation is absolutely breathtaking and, I would venture to say, the best I have seen to date. The computer rendering really adds to the panoramic scenes, giving them sense of depth and distance that cell animation alone cannot achieve. The world Ghost paints is also exciting. We see snap shots of a politically complex and technologically exciting culture that leaves the viewer dying to know more. My one qualm with the film is with the dubbing. While it is certainly better than average, it runs into a common anime problem of sounding overly cheesy. The words are right, but the tone of voice detracts from the drama in some of the scenes. This is hardly a critical problem and I still give this movie an enthusiastic 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: After reading Masamune Shirow's original comic, I was so impressed I read it at least 5 more times. A friend of mine told me about the movie and I immediately purchased it. While omitting most of the humor of the original, it uses a unique and visually stunning approach to the animation, combining traditional cel with cgi. They streamlined the story a bit too much in my opinion, but the film was an absolute pleasure to watch. It shows how a movie can't just copy a book, it has to shape it in its own way.
Rating: 
Summary: My favourite BORING animated movie!
Review: If you like anime, you will not like this. It's all about philosophy and lots of boring chitty-chat questioning life. The thing is, you can not relate yourself to the characters because their all cyborgs, and the world they live in is so dark and unrealistic. There are only two action scenes, but aren't very exciting and has exploding heads! When you reach the end you can't believe you paid the kind of money you did to get the film, expecting something groundbreaking, instead you get something reasonably scary, but absolute rubbish. The only reason why it got two, instead of one, is because the quality of the animation with the use of computer graphics is good.
Rating:
Summary: When CGI and Philosophy Merge
Review: Ghost in the Shell is groundbreaking in its seamless use of CGI; this combined with its extreme visual detail makes for an impressive film, especially when seen on a large screen. Based upon the manga (Japanese comic) by Masamune Shirow, the main character, Major Kusinagi, is a government agent tracking the ellusive Puppet Master, who ghost-hacks cyborgs in 2029 A.D. and has them commit his crimes. The ubiquitous nature of technology melds with the technophobic aspects of life in the future as deep philosophical questions asked by Humans since the beginning of time are treated in a novel manner via these "given" SF characters. Note that the subtitled version is FAR superior to the dubbed version.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, intellecutally stimulating...
Review: Ghost in the Shell is only the 2nd Japanese Anime I have seen -- but it so good, it won't be the last! The accolades received by this movie -- Winner 1997 World Animation Celebration Awards, Siskel and Ebert Two Thumbs Up, etc -- are well deserved. Adding my praise to what is already considered a stunning animated thriller credited with bringing anime to the masses seems almost insignificant; yet here it is: The scene, setting, and plot display overtones of Blade Runner and Total Recall. Based on the date this movie was released I don't think it is appropriate to just compare this movie to The Matrix even though there are comparisons -- this movie seems to be a core influence in the creation of The Matrix! The plot takes place in the future in an unidentified asian country. The story line is rich, detailed, twisting, and fast-paced and involves high-tech, the Net, espionage, and the nature of life and love. The medium -- anime -- contributes and enables the effect and accomplishment that is this movie. High-speed high energy action, quality graphics, great sounds, great musical score ... this more than convinces me that anime is a valid medium to make great movies. The movie is so rich that you'll want to watch this over and over, and it belongs in your library along with other classics!
Rating:
Summary: Anime-Good; Manga-Even Better
Review: Okay. I have to say I was absolutely shocked at the excellent quality and detail of the backgrounds. However, I had read the manga before I saw the DVD, and the DVD left out a lot of detail and background information. Granted, the manga was more than 200 pages and if it were made into a coherent movie it would have taken at least 5 hours of running time and a lot of effort, but I have to say the manga was better. The anime did not go into half the detail concerning the characters' backgrounds or even who they were. I had to watch the dub with subtitles on to catch the characters names. However, it was great to see it in color, because the manga only had 3 colored pages at each chapter. Yet the ending was anti-climatic since the original ending (it was quite different) built up a lot more suspense. Still, it was pretty good considering the subtitles were different from the dub, meaning they didn't just take the dubbed translation and tack it on as the subtitles. So all in all, the DVD was pretty good, but if you have the time and the patience, get the manga because it is substatially better.
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