Ghost in the Shell

Seriously disturbing trend with these reviews. If you love the original, you write a bad review. If you you know nothing of the original, this is a great movie. What I do not understand is why you would expect this to be a copy of the original. This is a big Hollywood movie. The campaign against it is idiotic. Go watch the original and stop leaving reviews that add nothing to the conversation except "oh it's not anime so it sucks". It is made for the masses and not fanboys. Sorry.

Thank you for this film. It really tries to stay true to its original elements and the visuals don't disappoint. Some take the nitpicking, whitewashing, feminism etc too far, none of which are the intention of this film. The makers of this feature film must have had been fans of the original series so as not to ruin it. If good anime are to have live action movies, then I say this is the bar, the benchmark.

And I would absolutely love a sequel!

The film plays like a six, in that the story line is good but maybe not top-notch, but the ending is spectacular, and by spectacular I mean better than your average excellent film out there.

So this is a seven to me, and recommended to all my friends and family.

Simplified? Yes. Stupified? No! imho a beautifully crafted cyberpunk movie that while it does not reach to the levels of complexity of the original anime, it stand it's ground and deliver a great audiovisual experience with a story that is sophisticated enough to rise above most Hollywood movies today but not that much to alienate more mainstream viewers. This is greatly underrated because it had to stand in the unfair comparison of the anime. I don't believe it is possible to replicate animes so just go and see it for what it is. A great cyberpunk Hollywood production. It is rare for Hollywood to treat it's original material with respect while trying to simplify it to reach a bigger audience.

Disclaimer: Old fart sci-fi / fantasy fan, and I don't know a thing about the original anime or anime in general. Two things i do know:

First, this is more than just first-rate eye candy and directing, it has heart and soul and that bittersweet feeling that anyone who has any of the first two will instantly understand and be drawn to.

Second, 6.5 stars (Jan 2017) is a crime against this film. Surely there is some exterior reason the haters are going after it. I predict 5 years from now, it's true quality will be more accurately reflected. I'd wager it might even make it to the top 250 list someday.