Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not worth the hype
Review: Ghost in the Shell by itself seems fairly incomplete. the action begins en media res, and at last scene (one would do better not to call it an ending) things remain rather inconclusive. It seems that there is still action and story to be had.Other reviews claim that this is a fundamental to any cyberpunk anime collection, as well as it may be it is a classic. The story deviates from the standard plot of most action movies, and but it still remains sort of weak. Part of this could be because it parts of the story are unneccesarily ambiguous. Terms like "Ghost" and "ghost hack" are explained but not to the extent that people who are truly engrossed in the story would want. The Animation is unbelievable. Some parts look almost real and the detail is incredible. The action is also well done and exciting. Those are the major points of the movie, but the story still falls short leaving the movie overall to not quite live up to it's repution. Overall? A good movie, but simply not worthy of the hype.
Rating: 
Summary: JCMICHAELS.COM Ghost In The Shell Review
Review: Ghost in the Shell is one of those movies that you must see more than once to really benefit from the complexities of the story. But once you understand what is really going on, it is fairly easy to follow. The acting is fairly decent but does suffer from some stiffness, this in part because of the translation from Japanese to English. Thankfully it doesn't detract from the overall experience and mood of the film. The coloring is great with a lot of contrast, paying special attention to the theme of the movie, science fiction. Sadly the color scheme does become drab and a little boring, but that tends to be a staple in sci-fi animation. What does shine in the film is the animation, although several years old, the animation is able to stand alone as some of the best that I have seen. The DVD does offer several bonus features, highly uneventful. "The Making of 'Ghost In The Shell'" is unbearably boring. It is presented in a cheap first year community college media project where many of the Japanese staff is interviewed. These interviews are completely done in Japanese with unreadable English subtitles. Overall, if you want a smart, intelligent and challenging movie, then you should at least rent it. If you're looking for one of the best anime movies in existence, then this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Reviews can be misleading
Review: As I sit here and type this review, I feel a little contradictory. I have read many reviews for Ghost in the Shell as well as some reviews for many other pieces of anime and some things concern me. While hundreds of people feel that Ghost is the pinnacle of anime to date, I disagree. I must admit that I'm not the consumate expert on anime, but I have found titles that have had lousy reviews that I adore, and there are titles that get rave reviews that I dislike. Personally, I prefer titles like Nightmare Campus, Demon City Shinjuku and Detonator Orgun. I purchased Ghost on DVD and it was OK. If you are a fanatic of anime, it is a must see title, but not necessarily a must own title. Rent if you can. Find your niche. Make your own opinion. Looks like I'm buying Cowboy Beebop next. I'll let you know what I think of it. Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: Question your reality, question life...
Review: The movie engrosses you with visuals and finishes you off with philosphy. Ghost brings light to questions and enigmas to others but in the end this movie touched me on levels I never knew I had. With it's Blade Runneresque image of urban life in the future, and it's grip on technology, your left with your mouth hanging open. There are movies that shock and make you think, this is the best example of such a movie. In anime there are few movies like this one that are so complete and utterly interesting.
Rating:
Summary: It began at night, as many things do.
Review: "Ghost in the Shell" is a personal quest for identity eerily reflected off the gritty espionage plot in cyberpunk Hong Kong. GITS is unnerving, if nothing else. Not because of any particularly gory passages (which are fairly numerous), but because of the question the film asks: Is the "I" real, or is it an illusion? Am I the same person who I was a minute ago, or am I a simple copy with the original's memories? Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetic member of an elite strike team, is facing a personal dilemma: is she the same person she was before her body was destroyed and her personality was instilled in a cybernetic brain? She finds herself drawn to the mysterious entity known only as the Puppet Master, an individual with a bizarrely long list of crimes, from stock manipulation, to political machinations, to mind-hacking of innocent indivuduals. Lately he seems to have taken an interest in Motoko's area of operation, possessing a diplomat's enterpreneur. Foreign Relations department seems to be taking an unhealthy interest in the case, enough to secretly bring a thermoptically camouflaged (Predator-style) individual to a top-secret lab when a lone, confused cyborg is found wandering the streets. When it reveals its frightening identity and is stolen, Motoko sees her chance to discover her true nature. This takes our heroine from a car chase to a shoot-out with a huge tank, to the final moment of lucid revelation of the argument behind the nature of self-awareness and life. In all honesty, I was so caught up with the puzzling plot that I barely noticed the artwork, although several CG scenes did capture my attention with their mastery. On the other hand, the sound scene is a bit barren: there are voices, and some music, but the sound effects are sparse. The "Making of GITS" part seems amateurish to the extreme, and the interviews with the grizzled creators are not at all helpful or even interesting. At least it includes the translated version of the main theme.
Rating: 
Summary: Not at all like the magna.
Review: I rented this tape in the hope that it would be as good as the manga of which it is based off of. Both of them start off the same and both of them end the same (sort of) but still it doesn't excuse the fact of what was done to the series. The magna contained humor and plot combined perfectly. This tape while having some humor still can't compare to the magna. Some people say that since I'm into humorous anime I won't like any serious show. This is not true. I love Record of Lodoss war and that is serious. This show just didn't have enough plot to get me into it. They also tried to combine a pretty hefty magna into a 90 minute movie. As such they had to sacrifice plot, comedy, and the funniest robots of all time. If you want Ghost in the Shell go get the full issue magna from Dark Horse Comics this just isn't worth it. So unlike almost all the other reviewers I don't love this movie. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: WHAT IS GOING ON?!?
Review: Is a question I asked myself many times thru-out this movie. The plot lost me somewhere along the line when they mention a guy called the puppetmaster. After that I hadn't a clue what to make of it. But that doesn't mean the film doesn't have some cool set pieces or that it's not worth watching. There is a cool moment when the girl is fighting a spider-like tank in an old deserted building. The music and the atmosphere of that scene is way cool and gunfire looks and sounds awesome. But there are some bad scenes too. Like the one where a character is wandering thru a street market and the music is made up of psalm singing. Ugh! That scene is awful and I have no idea why the director allowed it to be in the movie. There is another scene which is also a direct rip-off of Predator with an invisible camouflaged villain being chased by an Arnie-like good guy hero. But although it was a rip-off it was still enjoyable. Only Manga fans and those who like to be REALLY involved with a movie should watch this. For all others it is just way too confusing and has too much influence from another culture. The DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 1.85:1.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Masterpiece
Review: Whatever you may say about anime. That it's for kids, or geeks. This film is one of the greatest of all action films. The perfect blending of computer and human art. Unlike many anime films, the voice talent on this one actually works in the dubbed version. So if you aren't into reading your films, this anime is for you. The dark imagery of the future is comparable to that of Blade Runner, so if has that going for it. And the idea of hacking into someone's brain is as imaginative as any story hook in recent memory. Anime has come a long way in the past few years. Hollywood has taken notice. This is one of the films that made them do it. Go buy it, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, but terrible storyline
Review: This is one of those anime "classics" which puts domestic animation to shame, and rightfully so. The technical presentation is amazing. The reason I can't recommend this to anyone is the storyline bites big time. If you like waxing poetically (or not so poetically) about the inner-workings of human and machine psyches _ad_nauseum_, then get it, but I felt it all got old really quickly. Many movies have done the whole man/machine dichotomy so much better. I think the writers thought that if they kept overloading your brain with techno-mumbo-jumbo you'd think it was amazing (and apparently they were right for a majority of viewers), but for anyone who has any technical sense about them, it was just dumb.
Rating:
Summary: Does not live up to its Manga
Review: The animation is fantastic in Ghost in the Shell. But I am unable to rate this anime any higher than 3 because this anime just does not live up to its original manga.
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