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Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence Actors: Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Tamio Ôki Director: Mamoru Oshii Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 100 minutes Studio: Umvd/Dreamworks Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-12-28 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 164 Average rating: 3.0 "Whining aside, it's just pop psych in the Daumer vein" Sheesh, the film's subtitles are identical to the theatrical release last summer. Nothing added or removed. It's possible the written [sound effects] style is sort of infracamp, like the old Batman Pow Zap Ka-Boom visuals, but way more sly -- they're meant to help Americans understand the film, after all. In fact, the movie feels as though it were assembled by a committee, with every subcommittee effort maxed out and very little central guidance. Only the visuals really shine -- the graphic art is intense. The writing is bizarre, pretentious and gauthic, umlauts included. Finally, what all the surreal soliloquys boil down to is a kind of Daumer-esque disappointment, a vivisectionist's brooding on missing soul and undetectable essences. As sequels go, this one completely lost the thread of Major Kusanagi's long dark night of the stroll [sic, sic, sic] through nocturnal Hong Kong. "Oops, Dreamworks did it again...but they fixed it quickly!" Edit: I found the "V4" version today (2/22/05) at Fry's. Best Buy still did not have the new fixed "V4" copies. I am impressed that Dreamworks was fairly quick to fix the closed captioning defect. Even if you have the first issue with the closed captioning defect, Dreamworks will replace the disc for free if you go to their website. The "V4" is only located on the top spine where the white sticker is. I was very excited about this release. After reading a few pages of negative reviews, I must say thanks you, both to the countless reviewers and also to Amazon for allowing us to discuss these expensive DVD releases. It is clear that the ball was dropped on this one. Studios like Dreamworks better start realizing that customers are savy and we demand quality products for our hard earned money. Dreamworks will survive financially, their reputation is severely damaged though, as it's clear that little money or effort was put into this DVD, yet they expect us to buy this stuff. No thanks. Recall this crap now Dreamworks, and sell the rights to Manga already. I doubt even one of the Dreamworks board members has seen this film or DVD. You must provide both English and orginal language tracks on these types of DVDs. Take a cue from Akira, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke etc... "Do not buy this DVD!" As many other have pointed out, the subtitles on this DVD is utterly annoying and makes the whole movie unwatcheable. For some reason the English subtitles are for hearing impaired and every noise of explosion is followed by a fat (with ugly font) [Noise]/[Explosion]. Me and my wife were not able to watch beyond the first five minutes. Wait for a better transfer! "Very Disappointed with Dreamworks" Having seen this movie in the theatre I was stunned by the artwork and level of detail involved. The subtitles used in the theatre were the normal subtitles. The story has a few twists and turns and was very enjoyable. Then Dreamworks released the DVD with poor artwork, and closed captioning for subtitles. I have been trying to locate an email address to contact them and express my disappointment with them. I do not recommend the original version. Dreamworks has an excange program now because of the level of disappointment with their product. "Good movie, bad DVD" Rating is half a star, actually. I owned this DVD one day before I returned it. As many other reviewers have noted, the hearing impaired captions are distracting to the point of making the movie unwatchable. Dreamworks should issue a recall notice, pull all unsold merchandise and replace all DVD's sold with discs containing proper subtitles. In the meantime, I bought a copy overseas. No extras, nothing fancy, but the subtitled dialogue does not intrude on the enjoyment of a great movie.