How in the heck can you get something like the matrix from this pile of garbage.\r\n\r\nI know the charectors were cyborgs but they had a problem showing emotions.\r\n\r\nThis dull dull dull

Skip this go outside or read a book or even put your hand in a blender you will feel better for it trust me.

Like 'Akira' some years before, 'Ghost in the Shell' probably introduced a lot of western audiences to modern anime. And like Akira, it's overrated. It's not bad, but seriously, find me someone over forty who thinks this is a masterpiece.

Pros: sophisticated, intelligent and complex SF plot. Nice backgrounds, but nothing you wouldn't see in the average modern TV anime (the animation itself is... adequate). Some interesting philosophical musings on the nature of identity, towards the end, but frankly nothing that deep when you strip away the blink-and-you've-missed-something plot.

cons: the characters each have all the personality of doorknobs, and that's probably being kind to doorknobs. The voice acting in the English dub is frankly pretty awful. I've heard better on english dubs of TV series. You think they could have afforded some proper voice talent for a movie which had this much hooplah around it when it came out. And ironcally, for all its 'Bladerunner'-ish future-urban aura, and the odd burst of violence, this is really a pretty slow movie, with much less action that you'd expect, and endless amounts of characters talking their way through needlessly confusing plot layers (when I say 'needlessly confusing', I mean that the underlying concepts are not that difficult to grasp, so why put so much clutter in the way of understanding them, other than to give the impression of a depth whch isn't really there?)

and I suppose I shouldn't close without mentioning the amount of what is known as 'fan service' in anime circles. i.e., completely needless nude scenes, breast-shots, etc. There is enough of this in the opening credits to be embarressing. Wouldn't matter so much if the film didn't take itself so dreadfully seriously.

I think this film just about sums up my frustration with a lot of anime. It has the brains to take animation into a truly adult form, but it seems to lack the maturity or... dare I say it, the soul, which is ironic given that's what the film's basically about.

Worth a look, but it doesn't deserve its hype.

I really can't tell where to begin. This isn't a movie one reviews by describing scenes or events, as this would spoil things. It's an excellent movie for those who are fond of cyberpunk philosophy. The symbolism is incredible, too I'm fond of movies in which the symbols themselves are readily presented but not in a way which malforms the plot and in such a manner that the symbolism itself is difficult to discern.