When you think of animated science-fiction movies, you either think of “Akira” or “Ghost in the Shell”, both of which are critically acclaimed and have not only been called a few of the greatest animation movies ever, but the greatest science fiction movies, as well. However, animation movies have had bad results as of late with it’s transition to live action. For examples, being Dragon ball and both of the Attack on Titan movies which all received polarizing reviews from not only critics but fans, as well. This year however we got the “Ghost in the Shell” live action movie which has been heavily promoted. The movie lived up to the hype but not in all the categories one would hope. Here’s my review of “Ghost in the Shell”.

“Ghost in the Shell” opened in theaters in the US on March 31 to mild success. Scarlett Johansson stars as Major Motoko Kusanagi, the fearless leader of the Section 9, a fictional intelligence department based out of Japan. Kusanagi is a synthetic “full-body prosthesis augmented-cybernetic human” which basically means that her brain is still alive but her body is a robot who can’t feel physical pain. The emotional pain, however, is something that comes to question in this movie. In the original 1995 animation movie, Kusanagi was searching for what it means to have a soul and what a soul truly is. In the film, this plot point has been changed to her finding memories in her past and who she really was. This was a major flaw for me; I believe that this should not have changed, especially if you have seen the original movie from 1995 and the animated TV show “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” from the early 2000’s. The story was the major failure and I believe the plot change scared people away.

Despite the film’s shortcomings, one of the film’s strengths was the visuals. “Ghost in the Shell” was shot in areas around Hong Kong to show off a futuristic Asian city. In my opinion, this is one of the film’s strong suits. Every scene is beautiful; from the aerial scenes with Major jumping off a building, to a gun battle with a garbage truck. Each scene was a visual masterpiece with plenty of artistic touches. Unfortunately, that could not save the movie from a poor story line. Overall, I would give this movie 2.5 out of 4 stars with the visuals and battle scenes as a strength but the overall plot of the story was its ultimate downfall.