The Ghost in the Shell Movie Reviews

Review by Animeworld.com

A dark and slick cyberpunk-style story. Ghost in the Shell is the movie version of Masamune Shirow's award winning comic story (although Shirow had little to do with the film interpretation). Despite it's origins, this one has less to do with Shirow's original vision than you'd expect, and if you're a fan of the comic, you might be disappointed with the movie. The story is somewhat different, the characters act and look different, and the sporadic humor that Shirow is so fond of is nowhere to be found (whether that is good or bad depends on your tastes, but I missed it). The movie is also a little slow, and completely humorless--the main characters have almost robotic personalities, which is fine, but a very different interpretation from the original version, where they were harsh but relatively human. On the other hand, although the characters differ from the originals a lot, they do have a lot of depth, and although they're probably not people you'd like to know personally, they seem very real.

One thing that did carry over from the original version of Ghost in the Shell is the depth and complexity of the plot. Shirow is well known for intricate, hard-to-follow stories that blend political intrigue, science fiction, and philosophical exploration. On that mark, this version of Ghost in the Shell definitely holds up, and although it is somewhat abridged from the comic version, most of the original concept is still here. There is less action, to be sure, but the politics are still present, and there's more than enough exploration of what it means to be human and the effects of technology on the human soul to keep you thinking. There may actually be too much plot for some viewers--some of the intrigue (particularly the political stuff) is so involved that it's easy to get lost, and the philosophical discussions were rather heavy handed, but neither of those are necessarily a down side, depending on your taste.

Artistically speaking, Ghost in the Shell is beautiful. The animation is fluid, the backgrounds are (true to Shirow's style) realistic and filled with detail, the hardware is realistic, and the art is generally sharp and extremely well drawn. The character designs are quite realistic and interesting as well, although they look quite a bit different from Shirow's originals. Regardless of which you prefer, the character animation is great--the little things are smooth, subtle, and natural, and the motion during action scenes has even more attention to detail. Those two action scenes (one at each end) were somewhat subdued, true to the feel of the move, but they were nonetheless spectacular. But make no mistake, this is most definitely not an action movie--despite the cyberpunk origins, Ghost in the Shell is more about philosophy than people blowing each other up.

The acting on both sides of the linguistic fence was good. In the Japanese, almost all of the casting was dead on, and the low-key performances by Motoko and Bateau were top-notch. The English casting was also very good, although the acting was not of quite the same caliber. The Major was acted quite well, although I thought the performances in the dub were a little too low-key (read: robotic) for their own good. The music was very interesting; more Akira than Bubblegum Crisis, it was very cerebral and surprisingly understated. Traditional sounding and somewhat surreal choir and slow drumbeats, the music was unfamiliar and a bit eerie, but very creative and it fit the production quite well. More noticeable than the music, though, was the lack thereof; many scenes (most notably the action ones) were almost silent.

Review by Anime Critic .com

There's a lot of hype surrounding Ghost in the Shell, and it's easy to start believing that this is one of the best anime out there. After reading a dozen or more glowing reviews praising this title in almost every respect, I had my hopes pretty high when I rented this movie. Not to mention the fact that I already owned the excellent manga, and an anime based on it could only be a good thing, right?

I should have seen it coming. There was no way in hell this movie could have possibly lived up to the inflated expectations I had set for it. First of all, it's based on the rather lengthy manga by Masamune Shirow (renowned for his complex stories). I don't care how talented the screen writers are, there is absolutely no way to cram the entire manga into a one-and-a-half hour movie and have it retain its integrity.

The second mistake was the inordinate amount of hype surrounding this movie. Being the first mainstream anime to hit theaters in North America, naturally expectations would be a bit high. However, a flawed anime in theaters is still a flawed anime.

The beginning of Ghost in the Shell featured the best and most innovative opening credits I've seen. Beautiful animation graced the screen, wonderful special computer effects enhanced its beauty, and my eyes were spellbound. If you want eye-candy, Ghost in the Shell has the best.

I'll admit that this movie does a good job of conveying the fundamental story from the manga. In the distant future, technology has reached a point where people are almost complete cybernetic constructs and the lines between flesh and metal are blurred. A mysterious hacker known only as the "Puppet Master" surfaces, and a special government organization called Section 9, led by Major Motoko Kusanagi, must investigate.

There are lots of philosophical elements to be found here, mostly dealing with what it means to be human, so if that's your cup of tea then you're set. However, the manga was many times more complex, and everything here seems too shallow in comparison. This was punctuated by the lackluster ending. Since this movie didn't build itself to an overly exciting climax, the ending felt a little empty.

The characters, though, were the movie's weakest point. Most of the same characters from the manga are found here, albeit with some physical differences (Motoko actually looks like a real person). Unfortunately, the strong character depth which made the manga so compelling isn't to be found here. Motoko is completely devoid of emotion (she actually smiled in the manga), and her lackluster voice actor doesn't help in the slightest. Batou tended to overshadow her, both in voice acting and personality. The dialog tended to consist of various monologues, which is reminiscent of the manga, but wasn't very enthralling in this movie.