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Ghost in the Shell Actors: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi Director: Mamoru Oshii Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Animated, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 115 minutes Studio: Palm Pictures/Manga Video Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 1998-03-31 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com essential video The skillful blending of drawn animation and computer-generated imagery excited anime fans when this science fiction mystery was released in 1995: many enthusiasts believe Ghost suggests what the future of anime will be, at least in the short term. The film is set in the not-too-distant future, when an unnamed government uses lifelike cyborgs or "enhanced" humans for undercover work. One of the key cyborgs is The Major, Motoko Kusanagi, who resembles a cross between The Terminator and a Playboy centerfold. She finds herself caught up in a tangled web of espionage and counterespionage as she searches for the mysterious superhacker known as "The Puppet Master." Mamoru Oshii directs with a staccato rhythm, alternating sequences of rapid-fire action (car chases, gun battles, explosions) with static dialogue scenes that allow the characters to sort out the vaguely mystical and rather convoluted plot. Kusanagi's final quote from I Corinthians suggests that electronic evolution may compliment and eventually supplant organic evolution. The minor nudity, profanity, and considerable violence would earn Ghost in the Shell at least a PG rating. --Charles Solomon |
 "Great animé film, given a top-drawer dvd release"Great film, any of the reviewers here will attest to that. But what makes this DVD release very special is a superb Dolby Digital and DTS soundtrack selection. I know of no better film to compare Dolby Digital 5.1, 5.1 EX, DTS 5.1, and DTS 6.1 ES soundtracks on your home theatre. The EX and ES tracks boasts a sixth channel for Surround Back speakers (on 6.1 surround receivers), and the film utilizes all these channels to the greatest possible degree of realism, and musical immersion. The title sequence (music) and the Major's climactic battle with the tank sentry (sound effects placement) are scenes that will knock your socks off with a properly set up home installation. Also worth noting is that both Japanese and dubbed English tracks are presented in 5.1 and 6.1 formats. (Be aware that Dolby 5.1 EX features a "matrixed" sixth channel, that is, it is encoded into the SL and SR channels; Dolby Digital EX receivers will decode the channel and play it through the "SB" speaker. DTS ES features the sixth channel as a separate channel ("Discrete") and also matrixed into SL and SR ("Matrix") for backward compatibility. Suitably equipped receivers will display the soundtrack "flag" information for both formats, and decode the best option appropriately. For this alone, this DVD makes a nice "demo disc" to test your home theatre equipment.)  "An excellent sci-fi/action movie (that just happens to be animated)"This film is one of the few anime films I'd *remotely* consider showing to somebody who is unfamiliar with or uninterested in "Japanimation" (cringe). It is not a perfect film, but it has alot of very appealing elements. Visually, it is brilliant, as everyone has noted, combining CGI with cell animation and some other stuff I forget. It really is a great-looking animated film. Anime purists may bash the dubbing, but it in fact quite good; it certainly isn't the unintentional bad comedy that many dubs are (e.g., Godzilla). For normal humans, the dub does not detract from the film at all, and would simply be considered good voice acting. The film has slam-bang action, an interesting premise, a convoluted plot, and an excellent soundtrack (though the Japanese song vocals *can* be grating to my American ears). If nothing else, that means that it trumps 90% of the live-action action movies you've ever seen. The film does have its weaknesses. The plot is hard to follow, not so much because it is complicated per se, but because it throws alot of things at you at once right from the get-go. And it certainly has what seems like gratuitous nudity (or *apparent* nudity: in most cases, she's actually wearing a skin-colored body suit, e.g. her "thermoptic camoflage" scenes.). Sometimes the philosophical rambling seems to go nowhere, though in fairness it never gets as dumb or boring as the philosophical rambling in the "Matrix" movies. Overall, this is an excellent movie. The Special Edition gets you a new digital transfer, more and better audio tracks, but not alot else worth noting compared to the old version (which still had good English 5.1 sound and a good picture). "Cant review a masterpiece without falling in same comments"OK... if there are 3 movies that id say are all time favourites in anime style I would say Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoko... The 3 have a singular essence in storytelling and digital art not folllowed (on personal opinion) by no other movies yet. This particular movie has all the story of a 300 page or so manga compressed in almost 2 hours with no flaws in storytelling and follow up theme. A definite must in evry anime collector/appreciator/fan "Great Anime "I just have a few things to say. First off this is not a full on action anime so don't try and compair it to movies like Ninja Scroll. Second, it was in fact listed by the creators of the matrix as a insperation for certain concepts of the film but It is more akin to Blade Runner. Third, the main character is not nude the entire movie, she is wearing a body suit (you can discover this for yourself if you actually pay attention to the film). If you want to see a great anime with a pretty good story then check it out. If you are just going to bash it because you can't understand it then do everyone a favor and rent Lion King. "Very interesting"I thought this movie was great. Overall it was great, it fascinated me. Ifelt like being a part of it; It is science fiction but amazing, unbeleiveable! |
